Car bomb in Damascus kills at least nine: NGO

BEIRUT - Agence France-Presse

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows a damaged van outside a bombed petrol station in a northern Damascus neighbourhood with a large population of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and the minority community of President Bashar al-Assad, late on January 3, 2013 . AFP photo

At least nine people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said early Friday.

Many were also seriously wounded in the attack in a northern neighbourhood of the city, and the death toll may climb, the group's director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of fighters and doctors to monitor the conflict in Syria, said the attack ocurred in a neighbourhood with a large population of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and the minority community of President Bashar al-Assad.

State news agency SANA said the incident was a "terrorist attack" that had targeted a petrol station near a hospital.

The Syrian authorities refer to the anti-Assad rebels as "terrorists" armed and funded from outside the country.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) activist network also reported the attack, saying large numbers of regime troops had deployed in the neighbourhood afterwards.

The SRGC also said there had been prolonged gunfire but did not say where it came from.

At least 160 people including 72 civilians died Thursday in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said the overall death toll from the 21-month conflict had surpassed 60,000.