Car bomb near Syrian security base kills 17

By Marwan Makdessi

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A powerful car bomb exploded near a security complex in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, killing 17 civilians in the third major attack in the tightly controlled country this year.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing on the road to the city's main airport, but Syria's interior minister described it as a terrorist attack, indicating that investigators suspect Muslim militants were involved.

"This is definitely a terrorism attack that occurred in a crowded area. This is a cowardly attack," Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majeed told state television.

State TV said the car was rigged with 200 kgs (440 pounds) of explosives, making it one of the biggest attacks in Damascus since bombings in the early 1980s by Islamist militants.

Abdel Majeed said 17 people were killed and 14 wounded. Some witnesses said the number of wounded was much higher.

The blast was at a crowded junction leading to the Sit Zeinab shrine, which is popular with Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.

Witnesses said the security complex's main building appeared largely undamaged, although television footage showed smashed car windshields and shattered windows in nearby residential buildings, wrecked cars and a large crater at the blast site.

"CRIMINAL ACT OF TERRORISM"

One witness said some people initially thought it was an earthquake when they felt the blast's force.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke out against the attack, while a State Department spokesman said the U.S. had closed the consular section of its embassy except for emergency services and would reopen on October 5 after the Eid holiday.

The U.N. Security Council and the French, Russian and Lebanese presidents condemned the attack.

"It's a criminal act of terrorism that targeted the residents of the city. Unfortunately, in the years following the U.S. war on terror, terrorism has spread even more," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told al-Arabiya television from New York.

"These incidents happen everywhere and do not mean a security breach. Be assured that security in Syria will remain alert for the safety of its civilians and land."

Authorities have maintained stability in the country of 19 million people by cracking down on dissent but their control has been challenged recently by a series of violent events.

The attack was the first explosion in Damascus since the car bomb assassination of Imad Moughniyah, military commander of the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, in February. Hezbollah blames Israel for that attack although Israel denies it.