Damascus blast death toll rises to 27

DAMASCUS, Syria (UPDATED) – A car bomb that targeted a funeral killed 27 people Tuesday in the mainly Druze and Christian suburb of Jaramana on the southeastern outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, a watchdog said.

“The number of people killed in a funeral held for two supporters of (President Bashar al-Assad’s) regime has risen to 27,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Hours earlier, state television had put the toll at 12, adding that another 48 were injured.

“At around 3 pm (1200 GMT), a funeral procession was making its way to the cemetery, when a car parked on the side of the road exploded, killing and inuring many people,” an army official told AFP.

The funeral was held for two supporters of the government of President Bashar al-Assad who were killed in a bomb attack on Monday, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Several buildings in the area struck by the blast suffered heavy damage, said an AFP photographer at the scene, adding that that the facade of one building was completely destroyed.

The walls of some buildings were badly charred by the blast, in footage aired by pro-regime television channel Al-Ikhbariya, and the windows of apartments several stories up were shattered.

An enraged woman dressed in a white tank-top came out of her home onto her balcony to shout down at onlookers at the scene of the blast: “Leave! Get out of here!”

The attack came amid a escalation of army shelling targeting the eastern belt of Damascus that is home to some of the rebel Free Syrian Army’s best organised battalions. -Agence France-Presse