Car bomb kills at least 12 at Syrian funeral

At least 12 people were killed and nearly 50 wounded after a car bomb exploded at a funeral in the suburbs of Syrian capital Damascus.

However, a London-based Syrian Opposition group said that at least 27 were killed at the funeral of two of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime supporters.

The bomb went off at a cemetery shattering windows of nearby buildings and causing walls to partially collapse in the blast.

Anti-government forces were blamed for the bombing by Syria’s state-run news agency but rebel forces claimed that the bombing had been carried out by the government in an attempt to redirect the attention away from the horrendous acts being committed in the country.

The bomb was planted in a taxi parked in a suburb of Jaramana largely populated by Christians and a Shia sub-sect called Druze.

The conflict between government forces and Opposition Free Syrian Army has consistently been intensifying as both attempt to gain control over major cities, including Damascus.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said that the number of refugees crossing the border on a daily basis has increased from 500.

Over the last two weeks, 5,000 people have been crossing the border into Turkey on a daily basis causing the number of refugees to reach almost 200,000 in neighbouring countries.

The international community has been called upon by Turkey for assistance as it is already sheltering around 80,000 Syrian refugees.