Seventeen dead in Syria car bomb blast: TV

A car bomb exploded near a Shiite shrine in southern Damascus on Saturday killing 17 people and wounding 14 others, in one of the deadliest attacks in a dozen years, state television said.

The car packed with 200 kilos (440 pounds) of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to the Damascus international airport at an intersection leading to the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood, it said.

All the victims were civilian passers-by, the channel added.

"Investigations by the Terrorism Combating Unit are under way to identify the attackers," the television reported official sources as saying.

Security forces cordoned off the area, but witnesses said the security center's main building appeared to have suffered little damage.

Witnesses said some industrial buildings about 100 meters away had shattered windows and the remains of the destroyed car were strewn on the highway.

The target of the bombing was not immediately known, and journalists were prevented by security forces from approaching the scene of the blast.

Sayeda Zeinab is popular among Shiites from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq who go there on pilgrimage to pray at the tomb of Zeinab, a grand-daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.

The blast is the worst to rock Syria since February when Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah was killed by a car bomb in Damascus.

Saturday's attack also comes days after the Lebanese authorities announced on September 22 that Syria had sent reinforcements to the border between the two neighbors.

Syria said the move was for internal security reasons and to combat smuggling.

In August, Syria confirmed the assassination of top army general Mohamed Suleiman who was described by the Arab media as having been the government's liaison with Hezbollah.