DAMASCUS, Sept 27: A car bomb exploded near a shrine in south Damascus on Saturday, killing 17 people and wounding 14 in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Syria in more than a decade, state media said.

The car packed with 200kg of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus airport in what Interior Minister Gen Bassam Abdel Majid described as “a terrorist act.” All the casualties were civilians, he told state television.

“A counter-terrorist unit is trying to track down the perpetrators,” he added. The target of the attack was not immediately known.

The rare attack in a country known for its iron-fist security struck the teeming neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab, the state-run SANA news agency said.

The district draws tens of thousands of pilgrims from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon each year who pray at the tomb of Bibi Zeinab. “It felt like an earthquake. The force of the explosion threw me out of bed,” said one man who lives nearby.

“Thank God this was Saturday. The catastrophe would have been bigger if the attack had taken place on Sunday when schools were open.”

Another man said the blast was heard some 10km away. “May Allah break the hands of those who did this,” said a boy.

The attack drew condemnation from many world capitals. It also prompted the United States to announce it was closing its consular section in Damascus as well as the Damascus Community School.

The facilities will be closed “in light of heightened security,” but would reopen after the Eidul Fitr holiday which is due to start next Wednesday and last several days, State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said. Syrian allies Iran and Russia, former colonial power France and neighbouring Lebanon all condemned the attack.

The exiled head of Syria’s banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni said the attack could be the work of extremist groups or part of a “struggle between security forces”. “The security agencies have set up terrorist groups and sent them to neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Iraq.—AFP