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A SUICIDE CAR bomber pursued by security forces blew himself up in eastern Damascus today, with a monitor reporting that 18 people were killed in the deadliest attack to hit the Syrian capital in months.
Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said security forces intercepted three car bombers on their way into the city early this morning.
State television said two of the vehicles were blown up on the outskirts of the city.
A third man managed to reach the eastern Tahrir Square district, where he was surrounded but able to detonate a bomb.
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitor, said 18 people were killed in the bombing, including at least seven members of pro-regime security forces and two civilians. It had not identified the remaining victims.
Syrian state news agency Sana quoted an interior ministry statement as saying two of the vehicles had been “destroyed” at a roundabout on the road to the city’s airport.
The driver of the third blew himself up while being pursued, it said, “killing a number of civilians, injuring others, and causing material damage to public and private properties”.
Extensive damage
An AFP correspondent at Tahrir Square saw extensive damage to nearby buildings. Two bombed-out cars were visible to one side of the square, which was strewn with debris.
A woman was crying in an apartment near the site of the attack. Her balcony had collapsed and the living room was a mess of broken glass and shattered masonry, with pictures and curtains strewn across the floor.
The woman said her daughter had been taken to hospital after being injured by flying glass.
Tahrir Square resident Mohammad Tinawi told AFP he had heard “gunfire at around 6am (3am Irish time), then an explosion which smashed the glass of houses in the neighbourhood”.
He said he had seen Red Crescent volunteers treating two wounded soldiers. A shopkeeper confirmed that the explosion had gone off at around 6am.
Damascus has been spared the large-scale battles that have devastated other major Syrian cities during the country’s six-year civil war. However, dozens of people have been killed in bombings, particularly on the outskirts of the capital.
In mid-March, bomb attacks on a courthouse and restaurant in central Damascus killed 32 people. That rare assault in the heart of the city, which remains under government control, was claimed by the Islamic State group.
That came days after two explosions that left 74 dead in the capital’s Old City and were claimed by the Tahrir al-Sham coalition led by the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front.
Battlefronts around Damascus have calmed since a May deal that saw opposition fighters withdraw from several neighbourhoods, along with a separate agreement on “de-escalation” zones — including one in a rebel stronghold just outside the capital.
Syria’s conflict broke out with anti-government protests in 2011, but has since evolved into a multi-front war that has killed more than 320,000 people.
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A bus route is not what we need – a train (preferably underground) with a station in the airport that runs into the city centre is what we badly need in Dublin.
Some laugh… How many years would that take to build… This is Ireland…. Where a one hour Job takes four and a half months to complete with paperwork, red tape and brown envelopes galore.
No point building one just for tourists. You need to be able to support multiple stations in a network. In reality the LUAS should have been an underground project. Id guess the majority of people departing and arriving into DUB are not heading into the city centre.
Bus routes to the airport, what will they think of next?
Bordeaux, a city of 250,000 has a light rail system that covers the whole city, and costs 1.80 for unlimited day use. Think about that for a second.
It costs 1.80 for one journey not for unlimited use. It’s great value and great system regardless
And think about how much the french government subsidize its railways compared to the least subvention in the whole of europe in ireland.think about that for a second
it seems like a very lazy route , its just a spur of the 747 route and overlapping with the Aircoach route. they should have pushed out to Terenure or something similar
Well, At least it might stop the no. 16 being overcrowded. That route is a health + safety risk with people standing in the stairwell + totally cramped conditions.
Doubt it, the 16 is €2.50 and this is €6 for practically the same journey
When you last on it at €2.50 ?
FFS..smaller cities in Europe have a super efficient rail system..why is Dublin stuck in the dark ages?
incompetence… they could even reuse the connolly – belfast line to run an express train with minimal cost by diverting through farms in fingal, but in incompetent Ireland, we let everyone have a say and they end up proposing having a hyper over priced monorail stopping at every little crappy suburb on the way there.
We had one till ff tore most of it up in the 1950s. Nothing was expanded on really after we got independence with the exception of dart
Trade unions oppose progress
We’re one of the few European cities without a rail link from the city centre to the airport.
We have one at Kerry airport though
Emirates landing in Kerry! Defiantly not in my lifetime
Is Aircoach still cheaper and more comfy?
It is!! Haha
Aircoach is 7, 747 is 6. But aircoach is twice as quick and much better!
Plus double deckers and suitcases don’t mix !
Sur arn’t we only fab! Dublin bus and “fast” are two terms I wouldn’t put together!
On a similar topic…how does the DART QUALIFY FOR THE ‘R’ in it’s name? Rapid it is not, well not by any normal standards.
It was Rapid compared to the amount of time it took to get to Bray on the bus back then.
Its as quick as the steam train that operated the suburban service 50 years ago. Not messing.
Steam trains regularly travelled across Ireland at 70mph in the 1850s.
The max speed on most parts of the rail network is 50mph today
I’ve sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and, by gum, it put them on the map!
Another bus from the city to the airport. Do they not know the nth co exists as well. What about a direct bus serving the likes of Balbriggan , Skerries , Rush , Lusk , Swords , etc. These areas are crying out for a direct link. For tourists and airport workers alike..
Swords has 2 or 3 direct buses every 10/15 minutes from the airport.
The 102 goes from malahide swords etc to the airport
Takes half a day to do the whole route, quicker to cycle. Aimed at workers not travellers.
Joe, the 102 only runs about every hour and there was none on a Sunday last time i checked.
The poulation of the north county has expanded rapidly and the current transport system will soon no longer be fit for purpose.
Bit of good news and people still fkn moan.no pleasing some folk just moan for the sake of moaning
Monorail :-)
Well, a monorail did put Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook on the map.
The ring came off my pudding can.
It’s just a bid to put Aircoach out of business, as is always the case with new Dublin bus routes.
Take a look at the DLR in London and get building an elevated system ASAP. Most time spent on Luas construction is diverting UG services before laying tracks.
Or what about re routing an airport route up the finglas or ballymun roads and serve the area there.
The bus drivers will be after a wage rise
6 euro is a total ripoff.
A bus service for lazy southsiders
They cancelled the 748 which made Dublin airport more viable for the south and west of the country. Helped Cork and Shannon probably!
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Bloody bus to the airport n the Luas to dundrum shopping centre tanx to one politician nice
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