Counterterrorist officers in Syria yesterday hunted for those responsible for a car bomb attack that killed 17 people in Damascus, one of the deadliest attacks in the country in more than a decade.
The bombing on Saturday near a Shiite shrine in the Syrian capital, which left 14 people wounded, drew condemnation from around the world, including from the US, which has repeatedly accused Syria of fueling unrest in Iraq.
The car packed with 200kg of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus airport in what Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid described as “a terrorist act.”
PHOTO: AP
All the casualties were civilians, he told state television.
“A counterterrorist unit is trying to track down the perpetrators,” the general said.
The rare attack in a country known for its iron-fisted security struck the teeming neighborhood of Sayeda Zeinab, the state-run SANA news agency said.
The district draws tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon each year to pray at the tomb of Zeinab, daughter of Shiite martyr Ali and granddaughter of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
“It felt like an earthquake. The force of the explosion threw me out of bed,” one man who lives near the scene told state television.
“Thank God this was Saturday. The catastrophe would have been bigger if the attack had taken place on Sunday when schools were open,” he said.
Another man said the blast was heard some 10km away.
The attack prompted the US State Department to announce it was temporarily closing its consular section in Damascus for all but emergency services for US citizens. The Damascus Community School was also shut.
The facilities will be closed “in light of heightened security,” but will reopen on Oct. 5 following the Id al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, spokesman Rob McInturff said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the bombing as “concerning.”
“This attack is particularly abhorrent as it comes during the holy month of Ramadan. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
Gordon Duguid, another State Department spokesman, said there was no evidence any US citizens were killed or injured in the incident, or of specific threats against the US community or embassy in Damascus.
Neighboring Lebanon, which has been riven by tensions between pro and anti-Damascus factions, also condemned the bombing, as did the UN Security Council, Arab and European states, and Syrian allies Iran and Russia.
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