Car bombs kill 34 in pro-Assad Damascus suburb
Source: updatednews.ca
Two car bombs killed at least 34 people in a district of Damascus loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday in the deadliest attack on the Syrian capital in months.The explosions struck the eastern neighborhood of Jaramana, home to many of Syria’s Druze minority as well as Christians who have fled violence elsewhere, ripping through shops and bringing debris crashing down on cars.
A crowd gathers at the site of a blast in Jaramana district, near Damascus, in this handout photograph released by Syria’s national news agency SANA November 28, 2012.
Once a bastion of security in Assad’s 20-month campaign to crush an uprising against his rule, Damascus has been hit with increasing regularity as the rebels grow bolder.
State media said a bomb also detonated in the southern town of Bosra al-Sham, near Deraa, where the revolt began with peaceful street protests in March 2011. It also said eight “terrorists” were killed near Damascus while they tried to booby-trap a car with a bomb.
Authorities severely limit independent media in Syria and it was not immediately possible to verify reports. The government said 34 people were killed in Damascus but did not give a casualty count for the Bosra al-Sham bombing.
The attacks followed two weeks of military gains by rebels who have stormed and taken army bases across Syria, exposing Assad’s loss of control in northern and eastern regions despite the devastating air power which he has used to bombard opposition strongholds.
A resident of Jaramana said that rebels had been repeatedly forbidden by local Druze elders to operate in the district, which borders the capital’s center where government offices are located.
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