Bombings rock Damascus as doubts grow over success of UN peace plan

Syrian security forces inspect the site of a blast in the central Midan district of Damascus on April 27, 2012. A deadly suicide bombing rocked the Syrian capital, killing at least 11 people and fuelling growing scepticism about hopes for the success of a UN-backed peace plan. AFP PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Regime accused of contravening a six-point truce deal by keeping troops and heavy weapons in urban areas

DAMASCUS, Friday

A deadly suicide bombing rocked the Syrian capital on Friday, capping a week of non-stop violence that has killed dozens and fuelled growing scepticism about hopes for the success of a UN-backed peace plan.

Amid the unrest, demonstrations were taking place after weekly Muslim prayers in flashpoint cities such as Hama, where shelling by government troops has reportedly killed more than 100 people since Monday.

The explosion shook Damascus’ central district of Midan, killing at least seven and wounding 20, state television said, with civilians and security force members among the casualties.

It blamed “terrorists,” the term used by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to refer to rebels.

A separate blast hit an industrial zone of Damascus, but there were no reports of casualties, and three security agents were wounded in a blast in the coastal city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Assad’s regime has repeatedly blamed “armed terrorist groups” for the violence, and for failing to abide by a putative ceasefire that went into force on April 12.

But UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the regime was in contravention of a six-point peace deal by keeping troops and heavy weapons in urban areas, and expressed alarm about reports population centres were shelled.

On Thursday, 22 people died in Syria, most of them civilians, the Britain-based Observatory said.

And overnight clashes between troops and rebels in the central city of Homs killed at least one army deserter and wounded another 15, it added.

More than 9,000 people have died since a popular uprising erupted against Assad’s regime in March 2011, the UN says, while non-governmental groups put the figure at more than 11,100.

The Local Coordination Committees, which organise protests, said a massive demonstration began at Sayid Ahmed Mosque in Damascus’ Qadam district on Friday, with security forces firing on it and making arrests.

It also said several people were injured in the eastern oil city of Deir Ezzor after security forces opened gunfire to disperse a demonstration.

Opposition figure Walid al-Bunni said the accord drawn up by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was likely to fail because it obliges Syria to allow free demonstrations.

“If the Annan plan which provides for peaceful demonstrations is applied, millions of Syrians will take to the streets and the regime will fall,” he told AFP in Cairo.

The truce, which has never witnessed a day without violence, is to be monitored by 300 UN observers due to arrive in Syria in the coming weeks. A small advance team is already on the ground.

The UN said Ban “remains deeply troubled by the continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and army personnel in population centres.” (AFP)