Damascus shelling, bomb blast kill two: State TV
DAMASCUS: A car bomb and shellfire in Syria’s capital Damascus killed two people and wounded several others on Wednesday, state television said.
It reported “two killed and 14 wounded in terrorist attacks on Damascus Tower and Maysat Square”.
The shell struck at the tower in the central Marjeh Square district while the car bomb went off in the northeast of the city.
An AFP correspondent in Damascus heard two large explosions.
State television broadcast images of security forces gathering around the mangled, burnt-out skeleton of a car in Maysat Square.
The blast came as regime forces battle to oust Islamic State group jihadists from the southern districts of the capital, including Yarmuk and the adjacent Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, says IS fighters have previously targeted the capital in recent weeks.
“IS in southern Damascus has fired rockets intermittently on the capital” since April 19 when pro-government forces ramped up their fight against the jihadists, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The Damascus regime set its sights on Yarmuk and nearby areas after retaking the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta east of the capital last month. — AFP