Twin Bomb Blasts Shake Damascus Suburb

At least 20 people have been killed and many injured by two bomb explosions in a south-eastern district of Syria’s capital, Damascus, activists say.

The Sana news agency said “terrorists” were behind the blasts in Jaramana.

Television pictures showed firemen hosing down the charred wrecks of two vehicles. Several buildings also appeared to have been damaged.

A BBC reporter in Jaramana says there were clashes between government forces and rebels there earlier on Wednesday.

There has been fierce fighting in recent days in the countryside around Damascus, known as the Ghouta, particularly in eastern areas.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an opposition activist network, said 48 people were killed in the capital and its suburbs on Tuesday. It put the nationwide death toll at 131, including 12 children.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) overran an air force base in the Sayyida Zainab area, to the south of Damascus, and fought off several attempts by security forces to storm several suburbs, the LCC added.

Activists estimate that more than 40,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

BBC