Syria: Bomb blasts at Damascus military checkpoint

09:33 • 21.01.19
Event

A bomb has exploded outside a military checkpoint in the Syrian capital Damascus.

"The explosion took place near a security branch in the south of the city," said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), according to Sky News.

It is not known whether there were any fatalities in the blast during morning rush-hour on Sunday, which is the first day of the working week.

Earlier, Syrian state television reported that a blast had been heard around the southern highway in Damascus.

It said first reports suggested a "terrorist act". It is not clear whether a bomb was left at the scene or the explosion was from a suicide bomber.

State television said the sound of gunfire could be heard shortly after and all roads leading to the scene of the blast were closed.

Explosions have been rare in Damascus since Syrian government forces captured the last rebel-held neighbourhoods and suburbs of the capital last year.

Another bomb on Sunday killed three people and wounded nine others in the northern Syrian city of Afrin on the anniversary of the Turkish offensive on the Kurdish region, SOHR said.

Syria is locked in a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 exploded into full conflict.

President Assad's forces, backed by Russian military, have retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and jihadists, and now control almost two-thirds of the country.

The Syrian regime in May reclaimed a final piece of territory held by the Islamic State group in southern Damascus, giving it total control over the capital for the first time in six years.

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