Syrian official: car bomb kills 10 in Damascus

The Associated Press, Damascus, Syria | World | Mon, April 08 2013, 7: 34 PM

A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in the Central Damascus Monday, at least 10 dead and heavy material damage, said an official of the Syrian Government.

The explosion, which state-run Syrian TV described as a terrorist suicide attacks, the Sabaa Bahrat Square went near, one of the largest roundabouts of the capital. The Syrian Central Bank, a mosque and a school are nearby.

A huge cloud of black smoke rose from the area as ambulances raced to the scene.

Monday's blast is the latest in a series of car bombs and suicide attacks to hit the Syrian capital. The last such explosion in Central Damascus was on 22 February, when a car suicide attack near the Baath party headquarters killed 53 people and injured more than 200 pronunciation, according to state media.

Anti-regime activists at the time put the death toll at 61, making it the deadliest attack in the capital in the Syrian civil war by two years.

TV images on Monday showed thick black smoke billowing into a wide Street with different cars on fire. At least six bodies were seen in the street. Paramedics were seen on a stretcher carrying a young woman wearing a jeans skirt, her face bloody, in an ambulance.

Shaken teenage students keep their backpacks were seen running away. The TV said the blast took place near the School by Bukhari.

The Syrian Government official told The Associated Press that 10 people were killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to official statements to the media.