Suicide bomber targets main judicial building in the capital's centre, with a second blast reported in the Rabweh area.
Syrian security forces cordon off Palace of Justice in Damascus [AFP]
Two suicide bombings hit the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday, killing dozens as the country's war entered its seventh year.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the capital's main judicial building early in the afternoon, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens of others, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
A second attacker detonated himself at a restaurant in the Rabweh area of Damascus, according to SANA, killing and wounding an unidentified number of others. Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep along the Syrian border, said the suicide bomber in the first blast reportedly detonated himself after he was stopped by security at the gate of the courthouse.
"The attack happened during a peak time to inflict the maximum number of casualties," she said.
There was no immediate claim for the bombing, which came as the country's civil war entered its seventh year.
The attack on capital's Palace of Justice, located near the famous and crowded Hamidiyeh market in Damascus, was the latest in a spate of explosions and suicide attacks targeting government-controlled areas in Syria and its capital.
According to Damascus police chief Mohammad Kheir Ismail, the attacker struck in the early afternoon — at 1:20pm (local time). A man wearing a military uniform and carrying a shotgun and grenades arrived at the entrance to the palace, the police chief told state TV.
The guards stopped the man, took away his arms and asked to search him. At that point, the man hurled himself inside the building and detonated his explosives, the chief said. Ahmad al-Sayed, Syria's attorney general, confirmed that account to state TV, saying that when the security guards tried to arrest the man, he threw himself inside the palace and blew himself up.
"This is a dirty action as people who enter the palace are innocent," he said, noting that the timing of the explosion was planned to kill the largest number of lawyers, judges and other people who were there at the time.
Ambulances rushed to the scene to transfer casualties to hospital.
The blast followed twin attacks on Saturday targeting Shia holy sites in the capital's Old City that killed at least 40 people in Damascus, an attack claimed a hardline coaltion known as Tahrir al-Sham, which includes groups with links to al-Qaeda.
Syrian security forces cordon off Palace of Justice in Damascus [AFP]
Two suicide bombings hit the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday, killing dozens as the country's war entered its seventh year.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the capital's main judicial building early in the afternoon, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens of others, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
A second attacker detonated himself at a restaurant in the Rabweh area of Damascus, according to SANA, killing and wounding an unidentified number of others. Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep along the Syrian border, said the suicide bomber in the first blast reportedly detonated himself after he was stopped by security at the gate of the courthouse.
"The attack happened during a peak time to inflict the maximum number of casualties," she said.
There was no immediate claim for the bombing, which came as the country's civil war entered its seventh year.
The attack on capital's Palace of Justice, located near the famous and crowded Hamidiyeh market in Damascus, was the latest in a spate of explosions and suicide attacks targeting government-controlled areas in Syria and its capital.
According to Damascus police chief Mohammad Kheir Ismail, the attacker struck in the early afternoon — at 1:20pm (local time). A man wearing a military uniform and carrying a shotgun and grenades arrived at the entrance to the palace, the police chief told state TV.
The guards stopped the man, took away his arms and asked to search him. At that point, the man hurled himself inside the building and detonated his explosives, the chief said. Ahmad al-Sayed, Syria's attorney general, confirmed that account to state TV, saying that when the security guards tried to arrest the man, he threw himself inside the palace and blew himself up.
"This is a dirty action as people who enter the palace are innocent," he said, noting that the timing of the explosion was planned to kill the largest number of lawyers, judges and other people who were there at the time.
Ambulances rushed to the scene to transfer casualties to hospital.
The blast followed twin attacks on Saturday targeting Shia holy sites in the capital's Old City that killed at least 40 people in Damascus, an attack claimed a hardline coaltion known as Tahrir al-Sham, which includes groups with links to al-Qaeda.
