DAMASCUS, July 2, (APP/AFP) – A suicide car bomber pursued by
security forces blew himself up in eastern Damascus on Sunday, with a monitor reporting 18 killed in the deadliest attack to hit the Syrian capital in months.
Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
monitoring group said security forces intercepted three car bombers on their way into the city early in the morning.
State television said two of the vehicles were blown up on the
outskirts of the city.
A third managed to reach the eastern Tahrir Square district, where
the driver was surrounded but able to detonate a bomb.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but previous deadly
attacks in Damascus have been claimed by the Islamic State group and rival jihadist factions.
The Britain-based Observatory said 18 people were killed in the
bombing, including at least seven members of pro-regime security forces and two civilians. It had not identified the remaining victims.
It said at least 12 other people were wounded in the blast.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an interior ministry statement
as saying two of the vehicles had been “destroyed” at a roundabout on the road to the city’s airport.
The driver of the third blew himself up while being pursued, it said,
“killing a number of civilians, injuring others, and causing material damage to public and private properties.”
– ‘War returned’ –
===================
An AFP correspondent at Tahrir Square saw extensive damage to nearby
buildings. Two bombed-out cars were visible to one side of the square, which
was strewn with debris.
Yara, 23, who lives near Tahrir Square, said her apartment had been rattled
by the blast.
“It was like war had returned after we felt that it had faded away,” she
said.
“I haven’t left the house yet today — I’m not afraid anymore, but I just
want to do nothing today.”
In the hours after the attack, a woman could be seen crying in a
heavily-damaged apartment near the blast site.
Her balcony had collapsed and the living room was a mess of broken glass
and shattered masonry, with pictures and curtains strewn across the floor.
The woman said her daughter had been taken to hospital after being injured
by flying glass.
Tahrir Square resident Mohammad Tinawi told AFP that he had heard “gunfire
at around 6:00 am (0300 GMT), then an explosion which smashed the glass of
houses in the neighbourhood”.
He said he had seen Red Crescent volunteers treating two wounded soldiers.
A shopkeeper confirmed that the explosion had gone off at around 6:00 am.
Hours after the blast, security was still tight at checkpoints around the
city centre although local authorities had reopened some streets leading to
Tahrir Square.
University exams that were supposed to be held on Sunday near the site of
the first two blasts were postponed.