Syria's interior ministry: We will respond "with an iron fist"

Syria's interior ministry said it would respond "with an iron fist" to what it called "terrorist escalation" after a suicide bomb attack on Friday, the third such attack in the capital Damascus in two weeks, state television said.   

"We will strike back with an iron fist at anyone who is tempted to play with the security of the country or its citizens," Syria Television quoted Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar as saying.   

Shaar also said the death toll from the bombing in Damascus killed 26 people, one higher than an earlier toll. Fifteen bodies could not be identified after they were "torn to pieces in the blast", he said.   

The ministry estimated that 63 people had been injured.

Meanwhile, the head of the Arab League said on Friday he had asked the Damascus-based leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas to ask the Syrian government to work to halt violence in the country.
   
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby was speaking alongside Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal after a meeting in Cairo.
   
"I gave him a message today to the Syrian authorities that it is necessary to work with integrity, transparency and credibility to halt the violence that is happening in Syria," he said.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber in Syria's capital Damascus killed 25 people and wounded 46 others, local news station Addounia said.

"In Damascus there are 25 martyrs, 15 of the bodies were in pieces, and more than 46 people were wounded, most of them civilians" it said.

Footage broadcast by Syria Television also showed the shattered blood splattered windows of what appeared to be a police bus.

Earlier, State Television reported that a "terrorist" explosion in the Maidan district of Damascus. It did not give details, saying the explosion targeted "civilians and people who had felt secure".

Reuters