Rebel Car Bomb Kills 13 North of Damascus

10 Police Among the Slain in Latest Attack

by | Jul 15, 2013

A rebel car bomb attack tore through a police station and the surrounding neighborhood in Deir Atiyeh, just north of the Syrian capital city of Damascus. The attack killed at least 13 people, including 10 police and three civilian bystanders.

Syrian state media blamed “terrorists” for the strike, but offered no specific details, while rebel spokesmen confirmed the strike but said it was as yet unclear which faction had carried them out.

The smart money is, as ever, on Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda linked rebel faction which has repeatedly used car and suicide bombers in attacks in populated areas during the war to prove that “no one” on the Assad government’s side is safe.

The group hasn’t claimed credit yet, but that isn’t unusual either, as it usually takes a few days for Nusra to get around to claiming responsibility when it bombs something, contrasting other wars where different factions vie to claim credit almost immediately.

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

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