Syrian Observatory Says Car Bomb Rocks Damascus Neighborhood

A car bomb rocked a district of the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, without giving any immediate word on any casualties.

"A large explosion apparently caused by an explosive device placed inside a car rocked the district of Kfar Sousa," the watchdog said.

A video posted to the website YouTube by activists late Monday night purportedly showed members of the Liwa al-Sham rebel group claiming responsibility for the blast.

Two members of the group said its fighters "on the ground targeted a group of senior officers responsible for crimes of the Assad regime."

They said a statement with the names of those targeted would be released later.

The southwestern neighborhood of Kfar Sousa is home to a number of government and military intelligence buildings.

The district has been targeted before, including in a massive double bombing early on in the uprising against President Bashar Assad in December 2011.

Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in the neighborhood, killing 44 people, in attacks the regime blamed on al-Qaida but the opposition accused the regime of carrying out.

Those attacks were the first against the regime's powerful security services in the heart of the capital, but have been followed by many others, targeting both civilian and military areas.

More than 100,000 people have died since Syria's uprising began in March 2011, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and doctors on the ground.

The uprising began with peaceful anti-government protests, but evolved into a civil conflict after the regime cracked down on demonstrators.