‘Top pro-regime cleric killed’ in Syria blast

A SUICIDE bomber has blown himself up inside a mosque in central Damascus, killing Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, a senior pro-regime Sunni cleric, state television has said.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

A SUICIDE bomber has blown himself up inside a mosque in central Damascus, killing Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, a senior pro-regime Sunni cleric, state television has said.Syria TV said on Thursday that a "terrorist suicide blast” had hit the Iman mosque in central Damascus."Senior cleric Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti was martyred in a terrorist suicide attack at the Iman Mosque in Mazraa in Damascus,” the station said, adding that there were reports of more dead and wounded.Al-Bouti, believed to be in his 90s, was a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad and the Imam of Damascus's historic Ummayyad Mosque.Residents contacted in the area said they believed the explosion may have been caused by a mortar bomb which exploded near a political party office.