17 Killed, 14 Injured by Car Bomb South of Damascus

Source: Al-Manar TV, 27-9-2008
Seventeen people were killed and 14 wounded when a car bomb exploded in southern Damascus on Saturday, in one of the deadliest attacks in a dozen years, state television reported.
The car packed with 200 kilos (440 pounds) of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus international airport at an intersection leading to Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood, it said.
All the victims were civilian passers-by, according to state television.
Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid told the broadcaster the attack was "a terrorist act," and added: "A counter-terrorist unit is trying to track down the perpetrators."
The target of the bombing was not immediately known. "It is too soon to say who carried out this terrorist act," Ibrahim Darraji, an international law professor at the university of Damascus, said. "But we must realize that Syria is targeted, either by countries whose interests contradict those of Damascus... or other groups who have an interest in undermining Syrian security," he said.
The attack was condemned by Syria's ally Russia as well as France, Jordan and Lebanon.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a cable of condolences to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad describing the attack as "a cruel and inhumane crime," the Kremlin website said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "barbarian and blind" attack and expressed "solidarity with Syria in its fight against terrorism," his office said in a statement.