2 suicide car bombs in Syria kill 40 at intelligence centers
Source: Agencies |
December 24, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWIN suicide car bomb blasts ripped through an upscale Damascus district yesterday, targeting heavily guarded intelligence buildings and killing at least 40 people.
The blasts came a day after an advance team of Arab League observers arrived in Amman to monitor Syria's promise to end its crackdown on protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
Government officials took the observers to the scene of the explosions and said it backed their longtime claims that the turmoil is not a popular uprising but the work of terrorists.
The blasts were the first such suicide bombings in Syria since the uprising began in March, adding new and ominous dimensions to a conflict that has already taken the country to the brink of civil war.
"We said it from the beginning, this is terrorism. They are killing the army and civilians," Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad told reporters outside the headquarters of the General Intelligence Agency, where bodies still littered the ground. State TV said initial investigations indicated possible involvement by the al-Qaida terror network.
Alongside him, the head of the observer advance team, Sameer Seif el-Yazal, said, "We are here to see the facts on the ground. ... What we are seeing today is regretful. The important thing is for things to calm down."
The blasts went off outside the main headquarters of the General Intelligence Agency and a branch of the military intelligence, two of the most powerful of Syria's multiple intelligence bodies. Outside the two buildings, mutilated and torn bodies lay amid rubble, twisted debris and burned cars in Damascus' upscale Kfar Sousa district. Bystanders and ambulance workers used blankets and stretchers to carry bloodstained bodies into vehicles. All the windows were shattered in the nearby state security building.
The two blasts detonated within moments of each other at 10:15am local time yesterday, a weekend day, echoing across the city.
"The explosions shook the house; it was frightful," said Nidal Hamidi, a 34-year-old Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa. He said gunfire was heard immediately after the explosion and said apartment windows within 200 meters of the explosions were shattered.
A military official told reporters that more than 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. State TV said most of the dead were civilians but included military and security personnel.
Major General Rustom Ghazaleh, who heads the military intelligence department, said the attacks were proof of a foreign plot to strike at Syria. "We will fight this project until the last drop of blood," he declared.
A Syrian military official said the bomb targeting the military intelligence building, the bigger of the two blasts, weighed more than 300 kilograms and gouged a crater into the ground that was about 0.6 meters deep and 0.5 yards wide. It killed 15 people, among them a retired brigadier general.
The government has said the Arab League observer team will vindicate its claims that terrorists are behind Syria's violence.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said it is in the interests of Syria for the observers to come and see what is really happening in the country.
Throughout the turmoil, Assad's government has insisted the uprising is the work of terrorists and armed gangs backed by foreign powers trying to topple the state. It has also warned the upheaval will throw the country into chaos, religious extremism and sectarian divisions. Assad and his inner circle belong to Syria's Alawite minority, and that community - a Shiite offshoot - and minority Christians particularly fear reprisals from the Sunni majority.
Haifa Nashar, a 45-year-old Sunni living in Kfar Sousa, was wailing as she stood taking in the scene outside the General Intelligence Agency.
"I've never seen anything like this in my life. May God curse their souls!" she cried. She denounced Qatar, the Arab Gulf nation that has been at the forefront of criticism of Syria and pushed for Arab League sanctions against it.
"This is what Hamad wants," she said, referring to Qatar's prime minister. "There was never any difference between Syrians, Sunnis, Christians and Alawites."
The blasts came a day after an advance team of Arab League observers arrived in Amman to monitor Syria's promise to end its crackdown on protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
Government officials took the observers to the scene of the explosions and said it backed their longtime claims that the turmoil is not a popular uprising but the work of terrorists.
The blasts were the first such suicide bombings in Syria since the uprising began in March, adding new and ominous dimensions to a conflict that has already taken the country to the brink of civil war.
"We said it from the beginning, this is terrorism. They are killing the army and civilians," Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad told reporters outside the headquarters of the General Intelligence Agency, where bodies still littered the ground. State TV said initial investigations indicated possible involvement by the al-Qaida terror network.
Alongside him, the head of the observer advance team, Sameer Seif el-Yazal, said, "We are here to see the facts on the ground. ... What we are seeing today is regretful. The important thing is for things to calm down."
The blasts went off outside the main headquarters of the General Intelligence Agency and a branch of the military intelligence, two of the most powerful of Syria's multiple intelligence bodies. Outside the two buildings, mutilated and torn bodies lay amid rubble, twisted debris and burned cars in Damascus' upscale Kfar Sousa district. Bystanders and ambulance workers used blankets and stretchers to carry bloodstained bodies into vehicles. All the windows were shattered in the nearby state security building.
The two blasts detonated within moments of each other at 10:15am local time yesterday, a weekend day, echoing across the city.
"The explosions shook the house; it was frightful," said Nidal Hamidi, a 34-year-old Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa. He said gunfire was heard immediately after the explosion and said apartment windows within 200 meters of the explosions were shattered.
A military official told reporters that more than 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. State TV said most of the dead were civilians but included military and security personnel.
Major General Rustom Ghazaleh, who heads the military intelligence department, said the attacks were proof of a foreign plot to strike at Syria. "We will fight this project until the last drop of blood," he declared.
A Syrian military official said the bomb targeting the military intelligence building, the bigger of the two blasts, weighed more than 300 kilograms and gouged a crater into the ground that was about 0.6 meters deep and 0.5 yards wide. It killed 15 people, among them a retired brigadier general.
The government has said the Arab League observer team will vindicate its claims that terrorists are behind Syria's violence.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said it is in the interests of Syria for the observers to come and see what is really happening in the country.
Throughout the turmoil, Assad's government has insisted the uprising is the work of terrorists and armed gangs backed by foreign powers trying to topple the state. It has also warned the upheaval will throw the country into chaos, religious extremism and sectarian divisions. Assad and his inner circle belong to Syria's Alawite minority, and that community - a Shiite offshoot - and minority Christians particularly fear reprisals from the Sunni majority.
Haifa Nashar, a 45-year-old Sunni living in Kfar Sousa, was wailing as she stood taking in the scene outside the General Intelligence Agency.
"I've never seen anything like this in my life. May God curse their souls!" she cried. She denounced Qatar, the Arab Gulf nation that has been at the forefront of criticism of Syria and pushed for Arab League sanctions against it.
"This is what Hamad wants," she said, referring to Qatar's prime minister. "There was never any difference between Syrians, Sunnis, Christians and Alawites."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
