Syria state media: Blast near Damascus kills 16

BEIRUT, Dec 13: Syria´s state news agency says a bomb blast near the capital, Damascus, has killed 16 people. It says at least half of those killed are women and children. The SANA news agency says a car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday near a school in a residential part of the southwestern suburb of Qatana. [break]



The report quotes medics from a nearby hospital as saying 16 people were killed, including seven children and "a number" of women. It says nearly two dozen people were wounded.



Anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad´s regime in March 2011.







Kurdish members of the FSA are seen on a tank stolen from the Syrian Army in Fafeen village, north of Aleppo province, Syria, Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 (AP Photo / Manu Brabo)

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