http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/2013321174113479353.html
'Top pro-regime cleric killed' in Syria blast
At least 42 dead and 84 wounded in suicide attack inside Damascus mosque
that also kills Sunni cleric Mohammed al-Bouti.
Last Modified: 21 Mar 2013 20:44
Al-Bouti, a respected religious scholar, was killed in the explosion
inside the Iman Mosque in Damascus [Reuters]
A senior pro-government cleric is among at least 42 people killed in a
suicide attack in the Syrian capital, Damascus, after a suicide bomber blew
himself up inside a mosque.
Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, a longtime supporter of President
Bashar al-Assad and Imam of Damascus's historic Ummayyad Mosque, was killed in
the explosion in the Iman Mosque in the central Mezzeh district, state
television said on Thursday.
"The number of those martyred in the terrorist suicide attack in the Iman
Mosque rises to 42 martyrs with 84 injured," a bulletin on state television
said, citing the country's health ministry.
Syrian TV said among those killed were al-Bouti's grandson.
TV footage showed wounded people and bodies with severed limbs on the
blood-stained floor of the mosque.
Sirens echoed in the capital as ambulances rushed to the scene of the
explosion, which was sealed off by the military.
Opposition leader condemns
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, Syria's opposition chief, has condemned the blast,
saying he suspected the regime was behind the attack.
"This is a crime by any measure that is completely rejected," he told AFP
news agency in Cairo on the phone.
Al-Bouti's death is a big blow to Syria's embattled leader, who is
fighting mainly Sunni rebels seeking his overthrow.
The cleric, believed to be in his 90s, has been a vocal supporter of his
regime since the early days of his father and predecessor, the late President
Hafez Assad.
In recent months, Syrian TV has carried his sermon from mosques in
Damascus live every week. He also has a regular religious TV programme.
In his sermons in the past few years, he was always been against the
Salafi movement, and always called for people to unite in order to save Syria,
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, said.
"We know that in the past years, he's been a prominent cleric against the
muslim brotherhood movement, so for the regime, he is a loss," she said.
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