A powerful bomb rocked central Damascus on Tuesday, killing 14 people according to Syrian TV, and sowing fear and chaos in a busy commercial district of the capital for the second consecutive day.
The Syrian Prime Minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on Monday after a car bomb struck near his convoy, a few kilometers (miles) away from Tuesday’s blast. The bombings appear to be part of an accelerated campaign by opposition forces seeking to topple President Bashar Assad to strike at his heavily protected seat of power.
“I heard a very loud bang and then the ceiling collapsed on top of me,” said Zaher Nafeq, who owns a mobile phone shop in the Damascus Towers, a 28-floor office building. He was wounded in his hand and his mobile phone shop was badly damaged in the blast.
Syrian TV said Tuesday’s explosion was caused by a “terrorist bombing” in the district of Marjeh, a commercial area in central Damascus. Assad’s regime refers to opposition fighters as “terrorists.”