A car bomb in central Damascus has killed at least 15 people and injured 53, Syrian state television has reported. Monday’s blast, which state-run media blamed on “terrorists”, went off near the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital’s biggest roundabouts. The Syrian Central Bank, a mosque and a school are located nearby. A correspondent with the AFP news agency said the blast caused extensive damage and that intense gunfire could be heard shortly afterwards. The blast damaged the AFP Damascus office, blowing out the windows, but no staff were hurt. TV images on Monday showed thick black smoke billowing from damaged cars and several bodies lying in the street. Paramedics were seen carrying on a stretcher a young woman wearing a jeans skirt, her face bloodied, into an ambulance.Shaken teenage students holding their backpacks were seen walking away. The explosion is the latest in a series of car bombs and suicide bombings to hit the Syrian capital. On March 21, a huge explosion ripped through a Damascus mosque killing at least 49 people, including a key pro-regime Sunni cleric.
