Damascus rocked by blasts

In this photograph released by Syria's official news agency SANA, Syrians inspect a damaged shop near the scene of two explosions in the central district of Marjeh in Damascus.

In this photograph released by Syria's official news agency SANA, Syrians inspect a damaged shop near the scene of two explosions in the central district of Marjeh in Damascus.

Published Jun 11, 2013

Share

Beirut - Two bombs killed 14 people in central Damascus on Tuesday, state media said, in an attack which appeared to target a police station.

Syrian television said the bombs exploded close to the police post in the central Marjeh Square, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker inside the police station.

The Observatory, which monitors violence across Syria through a network of medical and security sources, put the death toll at 15 and said most of the casualties were police.

State media had earlier said the bombs had been left outside shops in Marjeh Square, located in the heart of the Syrian capital, which has been rocked several times by bombings during the two-year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

A bomb attack in the same square six weeks ago killed 13 people. Since then, Assad's forces have retaken rebel-held areas to the east of the capital and also driven rebels from their stronghold in the town of Qusayr, close to the Lebanese border. - Reuters

Related Topics: