Death toll rises to 18 in Damascus car bomb attack, monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Death toll for the suicide card bomb attack in the Syrian capital Damascus Sunday morning has risen to 18 people, a monitoring group reported.  

 

The number of those killed includes 7 members of the Syrian security forces and militants loyal to the regime, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

 

The Syrian interior ministry stated that they were able to intercept and explode two car bombs Sunday morning in Damascus.    

 

It added that at  6:15 a.m. this morning, the security forces pursued and besieged a third car, but the suicide bomber detonated his explosives in al-Ghadir square, near the Tahrir square, causing a “number of martyrs and injuries.” The ministry did not release any casualty figures.   

 

The minister for local governments and environment Hussein Makhlouf said from the site of the attack that the suicide bombers wanted to target more populated areas, especially that people are back to work following the Eid holidays.

 

Damascus has enjoyed relative peace and security in an otherwise war-torn country because of the six-year civil war since 2011 that has claimed the lives of at least 350, 000 people.   

 

On  March 11, a twin bomb attack targeting mainly Iraqi Shiite pilgrims  in Damascus killed 40 Iraqis, and injured another 120 people. The attack was followed by an  explosion 4 days after in the old Justice Palace in Damascus killing 25 people.   No group has claimed responsibility for the Sunday attacks.