Did the Damascus Blast Target Syrian Intelligence Officer Linked to the Hariri Crime?
Syria has yet to identify the 17 fatalities killed in the Saturday car bombing that targeted southern Damascus amidst reports that a ranking officer and his son were among the victims.
The state-run Syrian-Arab News Agency, SANA, on Monday blamed the attack on a suicide bomber with links to an extremist group. But did not disclose further details pertaining to identity of the alleged terrorist.
Syrian Interior Minister Gen. Bassam Abdul Majid told state television a few hours after the blast all the victims were "civilians."
However, an unidentified resident of the targeted neighborhood was quoted by foreign wire services as saying a relative of his, who has the rank of a brigadier general, and his son were killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, the Italian news service AKI quoted alleged Syrian opposition sources as saying Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Abbas, deputy commander of the military intelligence-Palestine Branch, was killed in the blast along with his son, who was not identified by name.
The AKI report said Abbas was "the target" of the blast, and noted that he was debriefed early in 2006 by the international commission probing the assassination in 2005 of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
The report said Abbas and "other Syrian intelligence officers" were debriefed in Vienna, early in 2006.
The international commission probing the Hariri killing and related crimes usually does not comment on its activities.