BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb struck a crowded residential street in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Saturday, killing 17 people and injuring 14 others, Syrian television reported. A car packed with 440 pounds of explosives blew up in a southern neighborhood near the junction to the city's international airport, shattering car and apartment windows, TV reported. The charred booby-trapped car was seen sitting in the street near a primary school as firefighters stood near a wide crater believed be caused by the blast. Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdul-Majid called the bombing a "terrorist act" and said all the victims were civilians. Anti-terror units were investigating. Such bombings are rare in Syria, a tightly controlled country where the regime of President Bashar Assad has used heavy-handed tactics to crack down against dissent and instability. But over the nine months, the country has witnessed two major assassinations. The secular government also says it is battling Sunni Muslim militants who have carried out several bombings and attacks in recent years.
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