19/10/2013 12:15
Explosion shakes Damascus suburb
A large explosion has shaken a suburb of Damascus with a majority Christian population, the BBC reported, citing Syria's state-run news agency.
Details are unclear but an opposition group said at least 16 soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack and fighting that followed.
The blast is said to have taken place in the pro-government area of Jaramana.
Earlier, the US urged the Syrian government to allow aid to reach starving civilians in Damascus.
Washington said the army's months-long siege left many people in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food, water and medicine.
Rebels have previously targeted Jaramana - a Christian and Druze area mostly loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, with bombings and mortar rounds.
In August a car bomb in Jaramana killed 18 people.
UK-based pro-opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a suicide attack by the jihadist al-Nusra Front, triggered heavy fighting at a key checkpoint between Jaramana and the rebel-held town of Mleha.
The report could not be confirmed.