Thousands attend funerals for Syrian bomb victims
Mourners chant pro-Assad slogans at mass funeral; meanwhile, activists report 6 more civilians killed at hand of security forces
Thousands of mourners carrying Syrian flags and pictures of the dead took part in a mass funeral Saturday for 44 people killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus.
Mourners carried coffins draped in the red, white and black Syrian flags into the eighth-century Omayyad Mosque, where they were placed on the ground for prayers.
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"Martyr after martyr, we want nobody but (Bashar) Assad," they shouted in support of the embattled Syrian president.
Mass funeral on Saturday (Photo: AP)
The government linked Friday's bombings to the uprising against Assad's autocratic rule and blamed the al-Qaeda terrorist network. They were the first suicide bombings since the unrest began in mid-March, adding new and ominous dimensions to a conflict that has already brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Earlier, a Syrian website released a statement saying that the Muslim Brotherhood has claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings.
But The Al-Arabiya news network later reported that that the Muslim Brotherhood has denied the charge: "The Syrian intelligence has opened a fake website in order to involve the movement in the terror attacks."
Site of Friday's bombing
Meanwhile, activists reported that the bodies of four Syrians who have been arrested overnight were found Saturday with signs of torture in the restive Homs province.
"The corpses of four citizens were found this morning in the streets of the town of Hula and a fifth citizen was found in a critical condition," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The watchdog demanded that the Arab League, which sent a team to Damascus on Thursday, to "immediately head to the town of Hula to document this flagrant violation of human rights which is just the tip of the iceberg of what is going on in Syria."
Two other civilians, including a 15-year-old, died on Saturday from gunshot wounds after being fired at by security forces at Nawa, in southern Daraa province, the rights group said.
Late Friday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern" over the escalating violence in Syria and the UN Security Council condemned the Damascus suicide car bombings as "terrorist attacks".
Ban called for an immediate end to the bloodshed and urged the Syrian government to implement a peace plan proposed by the Arab League, according to a statement.
"The Secretary-General urges the need for a credible, inclusive and legitimate Syrian-led process of comprehensive political change that will address the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people," the statement read.
AP, AFP and Reuters contributed to the report
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