Article

2008-09-28 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Follow-up.

A car carrying more than 400 pounds of explosives blew up in Syria's capital on Saturday, killing 17 people in at least the third deadly attack this year in the tightly policed Arab country.

Interior Minister Bassim Abdel Majid said "terrorists" were responsible for Saturday's attack but told state television that officials did not know who carried it out. "We cannot blame any party," he said.

The bomb exploded Saturday morning in a neighborhood around the capital's Sayida Zaineb shrine, ripping the fronts off buildings and shattering car windows. The shrine attracts Shiite pilgrims in the majority Sunni Muslim nation. The apartments lining the crowded streets around the mosque are home to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees, many of them poor, unemployed and undocumented.

News reports from Syria said the bombing occurred near a state security post. There were conflicting reports as to the nature of the post, with one opposition web site saying it was no more than a car park used by state security services.

Police barred all journalists except state television crews from the scene. Syrian television said all of those killed were civilians.

The attack follows a car bombing in February that killed Imad Mugniyeh, a security chief for Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based armed political movement that the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization. Last month, a gunman shot to death a Syrian general who the Syrian opposition and Israeli officials said had been a top liaison between Syria and Hezbollah. Syria has not announced any arrests in those killings, and the identity of the killers and their motives remain a mystery.

Posted by Fred 2008-09-28 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11127 views ] Top

#1 Popcorn.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-09-28 06:51|| 2008-09-28 06:51|| Front Page Top

#2 Fred,

I take it that it's all quiet on the Thai front since S-L-I have replaced them at the bottom of the pile.

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2008-09-28 08:06|| 2008-09-28 08:06|| Front Page Top

#3 If you've noticed, Jack, the amount of space allotted to Afghanistan and Iraq has all but disappeared, while the amount of space allocated to Pakistan and India has grown significantly. The war in Iraq is all but over. Afghanistan has a long way to go, but most of the action has shifted to the Pakistani Tribal Areas. With that causing problems for the government in Islamabad, the mighty Pak army has stepped up nuisance attacks on the Kashmiri Line of Control. Attacks in Thailand are sporadic, and if the Thais ever get their act together and start really HURTING the "insurgents", will probably disappear altogether. As Ramadan ends, expect things to pick up a bit.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2008-09-28 14:17|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2008-09-28 14:17|| Front Page Top

08:52 Matt
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