Car bomb rocks a suburb of Syria’s capital Damascus

A car bomb explosion has rocked Damascus, a rare incident in recent years as the Syrian capital has been largely spared the violence that happens in other parts of the country.

Sunday night’s blast in the affluent suburb of Mezze caused no casualties, according to police sources quoted by the official Syrian news agency, SANA.

Initial reports said loud explosions had been heard in Mezze and plumes of smoke were seen rising from the vicinity of the military airport there.

According to police sources, an explosive device in a civilian vehicle was detonated, bursting into flames that spread to two vehicles parked nearby.

Witnesses said the blast was near a popular restaurant and a busy roundabout.

Nobody has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack and it is unclear if it was meant to target a particular individual.

A number of senior government and security officials live in Mezze, and the United Nations and a number of embassies have their offices there.

On February 27, a Syrian officer involved “in developing weapons” was killed in a car bombing in the Damascus countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.