Explosion hits suburb of Syrian capital overnight, casualties reported

A booby-trapped car went off in Syrian capital suburb of Daf al-Shouk on Saturday, leaving two unidentified corpses and five people injured, according to witnesses and local media, Xinhua reported.

There was no immediate word from officials about the circumstances of the incident, however, the size of the debris field and the shape of the blast suggest that the car had been rigged with heavy explosives.

The pro-government Addounia TV aired preliminary footage of the blast, showing mangled wreckage of nearby cars, smashed windows of buildings, and human flesh on the ground.

The footage also showed a cadre of firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers collecting evidences at the blast site. A bystander was heard in the background saying the blast hurled a nearby car off the ground before it flipped over and fell down.

The overnight blast is the latest in a string of other explosions that rocked Damascus and northern Aleppo province earlier this day.

A car rigged with explosives went off in Aleppo Saturday, killing six people, including a woman and her two children. In Damascus, a roadside bomb was detonated Saturday morning in the Damascus' suburb of Joubar, leaving only material damages.

Another blast struck the heart of Damascus also on Saturday, when two explosive devices planted under a military pickup truck went off at al-Khuja market near a military food cooperative, leaving around nine cars smashed.

Meanwhile, a lieutenant colonel physician was killed Saturday in a drive-by shooting in Syria's northern Aleppo province, state media said, noting the assailants, riding motorcycles, opened fire at the officer in al-Ansari neighborhood.

Damascus and Aleppo have witnessed many suicide bombings recently. Last week, a suicide bomber detonated himself at al- Midan neighborhood in the heart of Damascus, leaving at least nine people dead and 29 others wounded.

Analysts said the bloody attacks came to overshadow the forthcoming parliamentarian elections that will start on May 7. Some 7,195 candidates, including 710 women, would run for the first legislative chapter of the 250-seat parliament.