Syria state media: Blast near Damascus kills 16

BEIRUT - The Associated Press

A handout photo made available by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), shows damage caused by a car bomb explosion inside the Syrian interior ministry in Kafarsouseh area in Damascus, Syria, 12 December 2012.

Syria’s state news agency says a bomb blast near the capital, Damascus, has killed 16 people. It says at least half of those killed are women and children.
 
The SANA news agency says a car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday near a school in a residential part of the southwestern suburb of Qatana.
 
The report quotes medics from a nearby hospital as saying 16 people were killed, including seven children and "a number" of women. It says nearly two dozen people were wounded.
 
Anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime in March 2011.