Suicide bomber kills 9 in Damascus

PanARMENIAN.Net - A suicide bomber killed nine people, some of them security men, outside a Damascus mosque on Friday, April 27 Syrian state media said, in another blow to a fraying UN-brokered truce between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting for his downfall, Reuters reported.

The explosion under a flyover occurred as worshippers were leaving the Midan district's Zain al-Abideen mosque, which was under heavy security due to its reputation as a launchpad for anti-Assad demonstrations after Friday prayers.

A resident who spoke to security officials at the scene said they reported a man in military uniform walking towards the area from a nearby street.

When several soldiers went to challenge him, he triggered an explosives vest, they said. Many of the body parts scattered across the tarmac were wearing green military-style clothing, the resident added.

State media said 28 people were also wounded in the blast, one of several in the country of 23 million on Friday.

Earlier, a loud blast was heard in the capital's al Sinaa district near a garage used by government buses and pro-Assad militiamen tasked with preventing demonstrations. Shopkeepers said a Mercedes caught fire but only the driver was wounded.

State media reported three more minor explosions in Damascus in which four people were wounded, and said five policemen were hurt by two blasts in the coastal city of Tartous.