Damascus bombing was carried by Iraqi suicide bomber

(NOW LEBANON-Sep 27, 2008)

Well-informed Syrian sources told NOW Lebanon on Saturday that the Damascus bombing was performed by an Iraqi suicide bomber who belonged to al-Qaeda. The sources added that the bomber had recently entered Syria and had been in communication with al-Qaeda members in the country.
The sources said that the attack targeted the security installation that was in close proximity to the bombing. “It was a message to the Syrian authorities, who were exerting pressuring on the al-Qaeda network in Syria, especially following increased Syrian openness toward the West, particularly with France, the indirect Israeli-Syrian negotiations and the Syrian decision to establish an embassy in Iraq,” said the sources.
They said that the message that al-Qaeda wanted to send to the Syrian regime was that increased Syrian pressure would lead to confrontation. The sources added that this suicide bombing was a warning that al- Qaeda would turn Syria into a “jihad land.”
The sources said that Syrian security forces had carried out a series of arrests and taken more than 35 people, mostly Syrians and other Arab nationals, into custody. (Link)