Bomb blasts rip through Damascus, dozens dead
Source: Agencies |
March 18, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TWIN bombings struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital of Damascus yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 100, according to Syrian state media.
State TV, citing the health minister, said the death toll could rise. The state news agency, SANA, posted gruesome photographs online of the scene, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel.
"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area. "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."
The blasts were the latest in a string of large-scale bombing attacks targeting the Syrian government's military installations but whose perpetrators remain a mystery. The previous blasts, all suicide bombings, killed dozens of people even as the government wages a crackdown against the year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
The government has blamed the explosions on "terrorist forces" that it claims are behind the revolt. The opposition has denied any role.
Top US intelligence officials have also pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq as the likely culprit behind the previous bombings, raising the possibility its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the turmoil. Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.
A suspected al-Qaida presence creates new obstacles for the US, its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to push Assad from power, and may also rally Syrian religious minorities, fearful of Sunni radicalism, to get behind the government.
The Syrian opposition has denied any link to al-Qaida and accuses forces loyal to the government of being behind the bombings to tarnish the uprising.
According to SANA, preliminary information indicated two blasts were caused by car bombs that hit the aviation intelligence department and the criminal security department at 7:30am local time. Shooting broke out soon after the blast.
A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus, but there were no details.
State TV, citing the health minister, said the death toll could rise. The state news agency, SANA, posted gruesome photographs online of the scene, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel.
"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area. "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."
The blasts were the latest in a string of large-scale bombing attacks targeting the Syrian government's military installations but whose perpetrators remain a mystery. The previous blasts, all suicide bombings, killed dozens of people even as the government wages a crackdown against the year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
The government has blamed the explosions on "terrorist forces" that it claims are behind the revolt. The opposition has denied any role.
Top US intelligence officials have also pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq as the likely culprit behind the previous bombings, raising the possibility its fighters are infiltrating across the border to take advantage of the turmoil. Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.
A suspected al-Qaida presence creates new obstacles for the US, its Western allies and Arab states trying to figure out a way to push Assad from power, and may also rally Syrian religious minorities, fearful of Sunni radicalism, to get behind the government.
The Syrian opposition has denied any link to al-Qaida and accuses forces loyal to the government of being behind the bombings to tarnish the uprising.
According to SANA, preliminary information indicated two blasts were caused by car bombs that hit the aviation intelligence department and the criminal security department at 7:30am local time. Shooting broke out soon after the blast.
A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus, but there were no details.
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