Nine dead in suicide bomb near Damascus mosque

Source: Reuters

By Ed Cropley

BEIRUT | Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed nine people including security officers at a Damascus mosque on Friday, Syria's interior ministry said, in another blow to a fraying U.N.-brokered truce between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting for his downfall.

The explosion happened as worshippers were leaving the Zain al-Abideen mosque, which was under heavy security due to its reputation as a launchpad for anti-Assad demonstrations after Friday prayers.

A local resident said security officials at the scene told him a man in military uniform had triggered an explosives vest when he was challenged by soldiers as he walked towards the area.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. But it was close to the site of a January 6 suicide bombing which was claimed by a previously unknown anti-Assad Sunni Islamist group calling itself the al-Nusra Front.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/us-syria-idUSBRE83O0OL20120427