Syrian TV: Bombing in Damascus kills 13

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows vehicles damaged by a powerful explosion which occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday April 30, 2013.
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows vehicles damaged by a powerful explosion which occurred in the central district of Marjeh, in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday April 30, 2013.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A powerful bomb rocked central Damascus on Tuesday, killing 13 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 Monday after a car bomb struck near his convoy, a few 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."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which the TV said also wounded 70 people. Car bombs and suicide attacks targeting the Damascus and other cities that remain under government control in the third year of the conflict have been claimed in the past by the al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group, which is fighting in Syria alongside rebels trying to topple Assad.

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