Fresh blast hits as Syria mourns victims of previous blasts
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E-mail Xinhua, March 19, 2012
Two people were killed and 30 others injured when a car bomb exploded Sunday in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, as the country was mourning victims of the triple blasts the day before, state-run SANA news agency reported.
An "armed terrorist group" detonated a booby-trapped car in Aleppo's residential neighborhood of al-Sulaymanyia as the specialized authorities found the car suspicious and were trying to pull it out from the area, SANA said, adding that the car was parked near a Latin church and two schools.
Some witnesses told Xinhua that the spot of explosion was also near the Political Security Directorate in the area.
The explosion killed a law-enforcement agent and a woman, and wounded 30 civilians and security agents, two of them in grave conditions, said SANA, adding that the explosion destroyed the facade of a residential building and caused big material damage to nearby buildings.
Sunday's blast is not the first in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. On Feb. 10, two suicide bombers blew themselves up near two security compounds in Aleppo, killing at least 25 people.
The blast also came just a day after two suicide car bombers detonated their explosives near the aviation intelligence directorate and the criminal security department in the capital Damascus, killing 29 civilians and security personnel and wounding 140 others.
Another car bomb exploded Saturday in Damascus at the Yarmouk camp housing thousands of Palestinians in south of the city. SANA said two "terrorists" were killed when their bomb-laden car exploded at the camp, while the Doha-based al-Jazeera TV quoted sources as saying that a brigadier of the Syrian army was targeted in the blast and was killed along with three Palestinians.
On Sunday, hundreds of Syrians attended a funeral procession for the 29 people killed the day before. Carrying coffins on their shoulders or waving national flags and posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the funeral prayers at al-Othman Mosque in Damascus, the mourners chanted pro-government slogans.
Before the prayers, thousands of Syrians gathered at the site of the explosion that targeted the aviation intelligence department at the Christian-inhabited district of Qassaa, where they marched quietly and prayed for the souls of those who were killed.
Sunday's blast is the fourth in Syria since the unrest erupted one year ago. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosions, while the Syrian accused al-Qaida fighters of being behind the blasts.
In another blast on Sunday, an "armed terrorist group" blew up a bridge on the Damascus-Daraa highway, fully destroying it, according to SANA.
Quoting experts, the state news agency said the explosives used in this "Sabotaging" act weighed around 700 kg to 1,000 kg, adding that the material losses were estimated at around 30 million Syrian pounds.
Earlier in the day, the authorities found big amounts of ammunition and explosives in the Kherbet al-Jowz and Ein al-Baida villages of Idlib province at borders with Turkey when they were chasing terrorist members, SANA said.
As the violence rages on, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's team will arrive in Damascus Monday to discuss setting up an international monitoring mission for Syria.
The United Nations said recently that more than 8,000 people were killed during the one-year-long crisis in Syria. The Syrian government said in December 2011 that more than 2,000 army and security personnel were killed.
