Double Car Bombings Kills Four in Dagestan

There has been a report of a double car bomb explosion in Makhachkala, capital of Russian’s Dagestan Republic, killing at least four and injuring over forty people just outside the headquarters of the court bailiff’s service.

According to Interfax news agency reports, the first car bomb went off on Monday in front of the Justice ministry, but no fatalities were reported. Just as the police arrived at the scene, a second car bomb detonated, Interfax reported, citing local investigative committee.

Although, there were conflicting reports about the number of casualties with initial reports suggesting 8 deaths, law enforcement officials have put the death toll at three people, with dozens injured in the second attack.

According to the local Interior Ministry, the majority of injured were police officers who arrived at the scene after the first blast, adding that there were about 15 of them in the hospital.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but investigators are already working on tracking down suspects using registration plates of one of the vehicles involved.

An ethnically mixed region comprising mostly of Muslims, Dagestan has been a province with the highest rate of violence in the Northern Caucasus. The violence, which was due to insurgency, has led to the deaths of at least 400 people according to a website monitoring events occurring in the region.

Deadly Car Bomb Detonates Near Benghazi Hospital

There have been reports of a car bomb that detonated in a car park just outside a major hospital in Benghazi, north Libya, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens, according to defense ministry officials.

According to AFP news agency, the car bomb laid waste to Al-Jala hospital’s car park on Monday afternoon, with at least 30 people wounded in the attack.

An official of the ministry also added that two children were amongst the dead, explaining that the explosives were loaded in a grey Toyota car.

Benghazi has been the centre of several attacks ever since the uprising that saw the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi began.

Demonstrators took to the streets, flooding the scene of the bombing with anger clearly seen on their faces. Many blamed militants for the incident, calling for only police and military presence in the country. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The explosion took out dozens of vehicles and did damage to nearby buildings, putting residents in a state of pandemonium.

The attack came only a day after the militants ended their two-week siege on foreign and justice ministries, and days after the US and the UK withdrew some of their staff from the embassies over concerns of their safety in the presence of rising tensions between militants and government forces.

Deadly Car Bomb Explosion Rocks Syrian Capital

The Syrian Interior Ministry has reported that a deadly car bomb explosion has occurred in the Majeh district of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens of others.

According to residents in the area, a huge blast was heard, and a thick smoke billowing from behing a group of buildings.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not provide details on the casualties reported immediately, but they warned that the death toll was expected to rise.

A member of the Syrian parliament, Sharif Shehadeh, told Al Jazeera that “terrorism sponsored by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United States” was harming “innocent civilians.”

He added that, while Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have been backing the Syrian opposition, the United States has provided “non-lethal aid” to groups fighting al-Assad’s regime.  

This bomb attack came only a day after an assassination attempt was made on the life of the Syrian Prime Minister, Wael al-Halqi.

Al-Halqi was unhurt in the bombing that occurred as his convoy passed through the street in the upscale western neighborhood of Mazzeh, but one of his bodyguards was killed in the process, with a few other injured, according to reports.

Syrian PM Cheats Death in Car Bomb Attack

According to the Syrian state media, Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Haiqi survived a bomb attack that was targeted at his convoy in Damascus on Monday.

State TV said the Prime Minister was unhurt in the bombing that occurred in the western neighborhood of the capital, al-Mezzah. They also said that the terrorist explosion in al-Mezzah was an attempt to target the convoy of the prime minister.

Although, casualties have been reported, Syrian firefighters were seen on TV extinguishing burning cars and debris resulting from the explosion.

The Associated Press was told by a Syrian government official (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) that an IED was placed under a car that was parked in the area and was detonated as al-Halqi’s car drove by.

The Al-Ikhbariya media run by the government said that the Prime Minister went into a meeting with an economic committee straight after the bombing.

Director Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday’s bombing killed a bodyguard of al-Halqi’s, leaving a second bodyguard and the driver in critical condition.

This is not the first time a high official in the Syrian capital has been targeted over the past year. Only last year in July, a blast at the Syrian national security building in the capital killed the defense minister and his deputy during a meeting of cabinet ministers

Then, in December, a car bomb exploded around the Inerior Ministry in the capital, killing several people, and wounding more than 20. The Interior Minister, Mohammed al-Shaar was hurt in the blast.

Ali Ballan, head of public relations at the Ministry of Social Affairs and a member of Syria’s relief agency, was assassinated while dining in a restaurant in al-Mazzeh, earlier in April.

According to a news bulletin, al-Halqi was quoted saying, “these types of attacks are nothing but proof of the discouragement and despair of the terrorist groups as a result of the actions of the Syrian army.”