Bomb attack kills 10 at Damascus mosque
Source: Agencies |
April 28, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A SUICIDE bomber killed 10 people, some of them security men, outside a Damascus mosque yesterday, Syrian state media said, in another blow to a fraying UN-brokered truce between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting for his downfall.
The explosion under a flyover occurred as worshippers were leaving the Midan district's Zain al-Abideen mosque, which was under heavy security due to its reputation as a launchpad for anti-Assad demonstrations after Friday prayers.
A resident who spoke to security officials at the scene said they reported a man in military uniform walking towards the area from a nearby street.
When several soldiers went to challenge him, he triggered an explosives vest, they said. Many of the body parts scattered across the tarmac were wearing green military-style clothing, the resident added.
State media said 28 people were also wounded in the blast, one of several in the country of 23 million yesterday.
State television showed images of blackened flesh and a mangled hand lying on the underpass as soldiers and police cleared the area to make way for ambulance crews.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Earlier, a loud blast was heard in the capital's al Sinaa district near a garage used by government buses and pro-Assad militiamen tasked with preventing demonstrations. Shopkeepers said a Mercedes-Benz caught fire but only the driver was wounded.
State media reported three more minor explosions in Damascus in which four people were wounded, and said five policemen were hurt by two blasts in the coastal city of Tartous.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the 13-month-old revolt against Assad. Damascus says insurgents have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and police.
Central Damascus has been spared much of the violence, although yesterday's blasts occurred less than a week after a car bomb blew up near an Iranian cultural center.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Damascus on Thursday of breaking its pledge to withdraw heavy weapons and troops from towns, saying he was "gravely alarmed by reports of continued violence and killing in Syria."
The Syrians for Human Rights Network, one of many groups seeking to topple Assad, said security forces had committed 86 cease-fire violations, including a helicopter gunship opening fire on a civilian area and snipers targeting protesters.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud accused rebels of 1,300 truce breaches and said the state "reserved the right to respond to any violation or attack," state news agency SANA reported.
A dozen UN cease-fire monitors are now on the ground.
The explosion under a flyover occurred as worshippers were leaving the Midan district's Zain al-Abideen mosque, which was under heavy security due to its reputation as a launchpad for anti-Assad demonstrations after Friday prayers.
A resident who spoke to security officials at the scene said they reported a man in military uniform walking towards the area from a nearby street.
When several soldiers went to challenge him, he triggered an explosives vest, they said. Many of the body parts scattered across the tarmac were wearing green military-style clothing, the resident added.
State media said 28 people were also wounded in the blast, one of several in the country of 23 million yesterday.
State television showed images of blackened flesh and a mangled hand lying on the underpass as soldiers and police cleared the area to make way for ambulance crews.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Earlier, a loud blast was heard in the capital's al Sinaa district near a garage used by government buses and pro-Assad militiamen tasked with preventing demonstrations. Shopkeepers said a Mercedes-Benz caught fire but only the driver was wounded.
State media reported three more minor explosions in Damascus in which four people were wounded, and said five policemen were hurt by two blasts in the coastal city of Tartous.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the 13-month-old revolt against Assad. Damascus says insurgents have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and police.
Central Damascus has been spared much of the violence, although yesterday's blasts occurred less than a week after a car bomb blew up near an Iranian cultural center.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Damascus on Thursday of breaking its pledge to withdraw heavy weapons and troops from towns, saying he was "gravely alarmed by reports of continued violence and killing in Syria."
The Syrians for Human Rights Network, one of many groups seeking to topple Assad, said security forces had committed 86 cease-fire violations, including a helicopter gunship opening fire on a civilian area and snipers targeting protesters.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud accused rebels of 1,300 truce breaches and said the state "reserved the right to respond to any violation or attack," state news agency SANA reported.
A dozen UN cease-fire monitors are now on the ground.
- 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.
