At least 16 members of Syria's security forces were killed by a suicide vehicle bomber and ensuing clashes with rebels at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus on Friday, an opposition monitoring group said. Syrian state television reported the blast but did not specify a death toll, saying only that several people had been killed or wounded in a "terrorist bombing". The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian fighter jets retaliated by striking nearby opposition-held areas, where clashes erupted after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a vehicle at an army checkpoint near Jaramana, a suburb of the capital. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-1/2-year-old conflict, which began with popular protests against President Bashar Assad before degenerating into civil war.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)