Bomb goes off in Douma suburb as senior UN officials tour area

Beirut: A roadside bomb exploded in a restive suburb of the Syrian capital as senior UN officials toured the area yesterday, blowing off the front of a parked vehicle but causing no casualties.

Visiting UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous and Maj Gen Robert Mood, the chief of UN observers in Syria were some 150 meters away, along with accompanying journalists, when the blast went off in the Douma suburb, engulfing a Toyota pickup car in flames and smoke.

It was not immediately clear what the target of the explosion was, but the car was parked near a security checkpoint. Meanwhile, Syrian troops killed a civilian and an army defector, a watchdog said, adding that anti-regime demonstrations were held in several areas of northwestern and central Syria on Sunday.

"A civilian was killed after he suffered gunshot wounds from regime troops, who were raiding Hasraya village" in the central province of Homs, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right said.

In Basra Al Sham city of southern Dara'a province, an army defector was killed in an overnight ambush by regime forces, the Observatory said.

In Jisr Al Shugour in northwest Idlib, a flashpoint of unrest, armed men assassinated a Baath party official, the monitor said, amid a marked increase of assassinations targeting people associated with the regime.

"There is definitely an increase in assassinations targeting people associated with the regime, be they officials or pro-regime businessmen," Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP by telephone.

The monitoring group also said that fresh demonstrations took place in several areas of northwest Idlib and in Hama calling for the exit of President Bashar Al Assad's regime.

In Dara'a province, demonstrations were also held calling for the release of activist and citizen journalist Mohammad Al Hariri, who according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been sentenced to death for "high treason."

Al Hariri was arrested on April 16, RSF said, after he gave an interview to Saudi-owned Al-Jazeera from his home in Dara'a province.

The latest demonstrations took place after fierce fighting between regime troops and armed rebels rocked parts of the Syrian capital Damascus overnight, the Observatory said.