Syria Rebels Down Fighter Jet near Aleppo, Car Bomb Blast near Damascus Kills 8

Syrian rebels shot down a fighter jet in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, a monitoring group and a military defector said as reports said that a car bomb blast killed at least eight people in Damascus.

"The rebels shot down the fighter jet in the west of Aleppo province, where fierce battles are taking place," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

"The jet was bombarding the village of Khan al-Asal."

A defected military officer in the province confirmed the reports, adding that the MiG jet was shot down some 10 kilometers west of Aleppo, scene of fierce battles since July 20.

Amateur video shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed groups of people gathering around a pile of embers, and smoke rising from the scene, as men fired their weapons into the air in celebration.

It also showed the tail of a fixed-wing aircraft, blackened by fire and broken off from the body of the plane.

"God is greatest," people shouted.

"People celebrate when planes are shot down because they are used to bombard civilian areas," said Abdel Rahman.

Meanwhile, a car bomb blast killed eight people, including a child and two women, near the Syrian capital in what was once a regime stronghold, a monitoring group said.

"Eight civilians, including a young girl and two women, were killed and 13 others critically injured by a car bomb blast in al-Nabak on the road linking Damascus to Homs," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The blast targeted participants in an anti-regime demonstration," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Amateur video posted on YouTube by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed a badly damaged white vehicle, with its side door charred and the back blasted away.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, Abdel Rahman said.