Bomber with 1,200 kg of explosives killed in Syria

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

People stand near the wreckage of a car at the site where a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Syrian army checkpoint at one of the entrances to the Syrian city of Aleppo May 10, 2012. REUTERS Photo

Syrian troops killed a would-be suicide bomber in the northern city of Aleppo today, a day after devastating bomb blasts in Damascus, state television reported.

"Syrian authorities have foiled an attempted suicide attack in Al-Shaar area of Aleppo and killed the would-be attacker," the channel said.

It said the would-be attacker's car was laden with 1,200 kilos of explosives.

The report came as thousands of people demonstrated against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo and other towns and cities across the country, monitors said.

Anti-regime activists dismissed the official account of a foiled attack as "a lie," according to Aleppo-based activist Mohammad al-Halabi.

"It is not in the interests of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army to stage attacks on a Friday," the day of weekly mass anti-regime protests over the past 14 months, Halabi told AFP.

"The regime is trying to make people believe there is Al-Qaeda here, but there is no Al-Qaeda here," he said.

Thursday's twin bombings in Damascus that killed 55 and injured hundreds of others led to mutual accusations of responsibility by the Damascus authorities and their foes.