Car Bomb Blast Kills 17 In Syrian Capital

The car was rigged with some 200 kgs (440 pounds) of explosives, the television said.

The blast occurred near a security installation on the airport road at an intersection leading to the Sit Zeinab shrine, popular with Shi’ite pilgrims from Iran and Lebanon.

Security forces cordoned off the area, witnesses said.

It was the first explosion in Syria since the car bomb assassination of Imad Moughniyah, military commander of the Islamist group Hezbollah, in February.

Last month, a senior security officer was killed at a beach resort near the port city of Tartous in mysterious circumstances, shaking the tightly controlled country.