Beirut - A car bomb on Monday ripped through Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus, killing at least five people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Another 27 people were injured in the blast, said the Britain-based monitoring group, adding that the attack struck the area of Al-Wehdeh on the edges of Jaramana.
Syrian state news agency SANA blamed the attack on a “terrorist group.”
“An explosive device planted in a car by an armed terrorist group went off in the Al-Wehdeh area of Jaramana,” SANA said, adding that the casualties included women and children.
Many of the wounded were being taken away in ambulances, said an AFP correspondent at the scene, adding that the blast caused heavy damage to one building, with one of its balconies completely destroyed.
This is not the first time the southeastern suburb has been hit by a car bomb.
On August 28, at least 27 people attending a funeral for two supporters of the Damascus regime were killed in a similar attack, according to the Observatory
“There is an increase of the use of car bombs in Syria,” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory, told AFP.
“At the same time, men in Jaramana Ä most of whose residents are pro-regime - have taken up arms to defend their district. This means that the regime has really lost control and the capacity to defend even its supporters.” - Sapa-AFP