‘Thirty killed, 55 wounded in Syrian blast’
Syria TV: Two rigged vehicles cause explosion in the capital killing several civilians and soldiers; Damascus claims al-Qaida involvement; Hezbollah TV says most casualties are civilians.
BEIRUT - Two booby-trapped cars blew up at security sites in Damascus on Friday, killing a number of civilians and soldiers, state television said, in the worst violence to hit Syria’s capital during nine months of unrest against President Bashar Assad.
Al Manar, a television news channel owned by Hezbollah, a major ally of Assad, put the number of dead from the blasts at 30 with 55 wounded and said most of the casualties were civilians. Al Manar cited information from its own correspondents at the scene.
Syrian television described the attack as a suicide bombing and said initial inquiries indicated al Qaeda was behind it.
The attack came a day after the arrival of Arab League officials to prepare for a monitoring team that will check whether Assad is implementing a plan to end the bloodshed.
State television broadcast footage of bloodied bodies being carried in blankets and stretchers into ambulances and people hunting through rubble of a badly damaged building.
A Reuters cameraman was barred from the site. State television also broadcast shots of bloodied streets littered with mangled human remains and blackened debris.