Car bomb kills 20 in northern Syrian town

PanARMENIAN.Net - A car bomb killed at least 20 people on Monday, Oct 14, in the northern Syrian town of Darkoush, close to the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to Reuters.

It said dozens of people were wounded by the explosion in the market of Darkoush, a small rebel-controlled town 2 km from the frontier, and some of them were taken into Turkey for treatment.

The British-based Observatory, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of activists and medical and military sources, said 12 of the dead were identified by name and another eight badly charred bodies had been found.

On Sunday, two suicide car bombs exploded in the center of the capital Damascus near a government television and radio building. Syrian television showed footage of what appeared to be two burning vehicles, a fire engine and images from inside a nearby building where windows had been blown out.

State news agency SANA said “terrorists set off the two suicide car bombs close to Ummayad Square in central Damascus, causing damage to the General Authority for Television and Radio without causing casualties.” It quoted one source as estimating there were about 100 kg of explosives in one of the cars.

Rebels hold a number of suburbs in the outskirts of Damascus and have managed to carry out mortar and rocket strikes into central areas of the capital in recent months, although major attacks in the city center are still relatively rare.

The Observatory says more than 115,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-1/2 year conflict, which grew out of protests which erupted in March 2011 against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.