A taxi packed with explosives blew up on a crowded residential street in Damascus today, killing at least 17 people.

Syrian television said a car packed with 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of explosives blew up on Mahlak Street, in a southern district of the Syrian capital close to the city’s international airport. The charred remains of the car was shown by television in the street near a primary school as firefighters stood near a wide crater believed be caused by the blast.

One witness said on television the explosion sounded like an earthquake. “My apartment collapsed, and five of my family members are injured and in hospital,” he said.

Another witnesses who was sleeping in his truck at the time of the blast said it appeared as if the bomb vehicle was a taxi. “I saw lots of smoke and the glass windows of my truck shattered.”

Bassam Abdul-Majid, the Syrian Interior Minister, called the bombing a terrorist act and said all the victims were civilians. But he would not say who might have been responsible. “We cannot accuse any party. There are ongoing investigations that will lead us to those who carried it out.”