Syria: Dozens Killed As Twin Blasts Rock Damascus Suburb

At least 34 people were killed in two car bomb blasts Wednesday morning in a district of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syrian activists and state media said.

The SANA state news agency said the blasts were the activity of "terrorists,” a term the government uses to denote the Sunni Muslim rebel fighters who have been battling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The blast occurred in the capital's eastern Jaramana suburb, home to the Christians and the Druse, two minority communities which are not part of the uprising.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, earlier put the death toll at 29.

Pro-government TV channel Addounia showed footage of the torched remains of two vehicles and debris from the nearby damaged buildings.

No group had claimed responsibility for the blasts, which took place in an area with no obvious government or military facilities, the BBC reported.

Supporters of the government in Jaramana and other Damascus suburbs had set up armed vigilante groups — known as the Popular Committees — to prevent attacks such as the latest one, the BBC reported.

On Oct. 19, 11 people were killed in a car bomb blast in Jaramana.

Members of Syria’s minority who fear a Sunni theocracy in the event of the ouster of the present secular government have largely stayed away from the revolution.