100 dead or wounded in suicide blast at air base
Tuesday 09 October 2012
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EmailSuicide bombers who struck a Syrian air force intelligence base on Monday night "killed or wounded at least 100 people," local opposition fighters said yesterday.
The bombing - which shattered windows and shopfronts in the Harasta suburb of Damascus - was launched by the al-Nusra Front, an Islamist terror group the UN says is linked to al-Qaida.
The front said it decided to hit air force intelligence because "it is one of the most notorious security divisions and a citadel of repression whose extent is known only to God."
The government has not given a casualty figure for the attack. Rebels said their estimates were based on the number of ambulances that had raced to the building.
They added that gun battles in the suburb raged for hours after the blast.
The opposition-in-exile Syrian National Council distanced itself from the attack, saying it was concerned for the fate of prisoners who may have been held in the base.
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