‘Terrorists’ blamed for latest bombing

Beirut – Syria today said a car bomb at a crowded petrol station in Damascus yesterday was set off by ‘‘terrorists’’, a term it uses for rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The bomb killed 11 people and wounded 40 at a station packed with Syrians queuing for fuel, which has become scarce during the 21-month insurgency against Assad. It was the second petrol station attack in the capital this week, opposition activists said.

‘‘Terrorists . . . blew up an explosive device at Qassioun Petrol Station near Hamish Hospital in Barzeh, Damascus, martyring several civilians,’’ state news agency Sana said.

The United Nations says more than 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war, the longest, bloodiest conflict born from uprisings across the Arab world in the past two years.

Dozens of people were incin- erated in an air strike as they waited for fuel at another Damascus petrol station on Thursday, according to opposition sources.

The rebels hold a crescent of suburbs on the southern and eastern edges of Damascus, which have come under bombardment by government forces. Rebel forces also seized territory in Syria’s north and east during advances in the second half of 2012.

The war pits rebels, mainly from the Sunni Muslim majority, against a government supported by members of Assad’s Shi’itederived Alawite sect and some minorities who fear revenge if he falls. Assad’s family has ruled for 42 years.

Fighting has forced 560,000 Syrians to flee to neighbouring countries, according to the UN.

Most Sunni-ruled Arab states, as well as the West and Turkey, have called for Assad to step down.