3 Syrian officers killed, 3 wounded in Damascus car bomb blast

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three Syrian military officers were killed in Damascus on Tuesday, April 24 state media and opposition groups said, and at least three people were wounded in a car bomb blast in the capital in further blows to a ragged UN-monitored ceasefire, Reuters reported.

Observers from the fledgling United Nations mission visited the central province of Homs, hotbed of a 13-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, as part of efforts to silence the guns 12 days after the accord was struck.

SANA, the state news agency, said an "armed terrorist group" shot dead two army officers near Damascus, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a third was killed in the capital's Barzeh neighborhood.

Damascus residents described the explosion in a pickup truck directly outside an Iranian cultural centre, in a popular shopping district, as extremely loud but causing limited damage.

Windows in nearby shops were not shattered and there were no signs of damage to the centre, run by Assad's powerful regional ally, Tehran. Shopkeepers said four people were injured, including a taxi driver.

The pro-Assad Ikhbaria television channel blamed the blast on "armed terrorists" - shorthand for the rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Assad, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic rulers in North Africa and the Middle East.

The United Nations says security forces have killed at least 9,000 people in the conflict, while Damascus says 2,600 of its personnel have died at the hands of insurgents who have seized control of pockets of towns and cities across the country of 23 million and who continue to launch daily guerrilla attacks.

SANA said on Tuesday customs officials on the Syria-Lebanon border had seized a car stuffed with ammunition and weapons, including three machineguns and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.