A series of suicide bombings have hit the Syrian capital city of Damascus today, as rebels attempted to escalate the fighting in the area. Several bombings were confirmed, and several others were reported foiled by government forces, with at least eight people, including a 3-year-old boy in a Shi’ite neighborhood, killed in the blasts.
At least three bombings were reported in the area around the Rukneddine police station in the city’s far north, where the bombers had hoped to break into the station but instead had to settle for detonating out front. Five were killed there, and an unknown number of others wounded.
Other attackers attempted to hit the national police office in the city’s south, but none were apparently successful, and there were no reported casualties there. Three civilians, including the child, were killed in another attack involving an apparent suicide car bombing in Mazzeh 86, a Shi’ite district.
There were no specific claims of credit from any rebel groups so far, but Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda-linked faction that serves as the rebels’ frontline fighters, has commonly used suicide bombings in its attacks.