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BEIRUT – A suicide vehicle bomb tore through the parking lot of a militarycompound in an eastern Syrian city on Saturday, killing nine peoplein the latest in a series of blasts in recent months targetingsecurity installations, the country's state media reported. State TV showed footage of damaged buildings, smoldering cars, andtrucks turned upside down. Debris filled a street that was stainedwith blood. Attacks such as the blast in Deir al-Zour, a former transit hub formilitants heading to fight U.S. forces in nearby Iraq, have raisedfears that al-Qaida-linked jihadis, possibly including Iraqis, havemade strong inroads into Syria's rebel movement. The report said the vehicle was rigged with 1,000 kilograms (2,200pounds) of explosives and did heavy damage to buildings up to 100meters (yards) away. It added that the explosion left a crater fivemeters wide and 2 1/2 meters deep. The state-run news agency SANA said the blast hit the parking lotof a military residential compound, while an opposition group, theBritain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported thatthe bomb went off close to the city branches of the MilitaryIntelligence Directorate and Air Force Intelligence. State TV saidU.N. observers based in the city visited the site of the blast. No one claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack. A groupcalling itself the Al-Nusra Front has claimed some previous attacksthrough statements posted on militant websites. Little is knownabout the group, although Western intelligence officials say itcould be a front for a branch of al-Qaida militants from Iraqoperating in Syria. The most recent bombing targeted an intelligence building inDamascus on May 10. It struck during morning rush hour and the highdeath toll — some 55 people — made it the deadliestsuch attack since the uprising against President Bashar Assad'sregime began in March of last year. Some of the tactics used in Damascus — a small blast drawingattention prior to a larger one — were reminiscent ofal-Qaida attacks during Iraq's insurgency. On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believesthat "alarmingly and surprisingly," al-Qaida must have been behindthe May 10 attack in the Syrian capital. "The recent terrorist attacks in Damascus suggest that theseattacks were carefully orchestrated," he said. "Having seen thescale and sophistication of these terrorist attacks, one mightthink that this terrorist attack was done by a certain group withorganization and clear intent." Deir el-Zour city is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Iraqiborder. Saturday's blast came a day after the state-run news agencySANA reported that authorities foiled an attempt to blow up a carrigged with explosives in the city and detained those involved. Deir el-Zour province, of which the city is the provincial capital,was a major crossing point for jihadis traveling to Iraq to fightafter the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. During the war, the U.S. and theIraqi government repeatedly accused Syria of allowing foreignfighters from across the Arab world to pass through, but Damascussaid it could not stop smuggling networks from crossing the longdesert border. In 2008, a cross-border raid by U.S. special forces killed theal-Qaida-linked head of a smuggling network and seven other peoplein the province. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Screen Metal Mesh Manufacturer , China Grassland Fence for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Expanded Metal Mesh.
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