State media said "terrorists" were behind the blasts in Jaramana and broadcast pictures showing several charred¹（烧焦的） vehicles and damaged buildings.

 

The district is predominantly Druze and Christian², two communities which have so far not joined the uprising.

 

Earlier, there were clashes between security forces and rebels in Jaramana.

 

There has been fierce fighting in recent days in eastern parts of the countryside around Damascus, known as the Ghouta.

 

 

Pro-government TV channel Addounia said the car bombs had exploded in Jaramana shortly after 06:40 local time.

 

"Terrorists blew up two car bombs filled with a large amount of explosives in the main square," the official Sana news agency reported.

 

State television quoted a source at the interior ministry³ as saying that 34 people had died and 83 had been seriously injured. 

 

The Syrian Observatory⁴ for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist⁵ group, put the death toll⁶ at 47, including women and children. It said it had so far identified 38 of the victims and that the death toll would probably rise.

 

"Activists⁷ and residents in the town said most of the victims were killed when a suicide attacker blew up his car, just after an explosive device was used to blow up another car," it added.

 

Two smaller bombs also exploded in Jaramana at around the same time as the attack, Sana said, adding that nobody was killed by them.

 

No group has said it was behind the bombings, and there was no immediately obvious military or government target, reports the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

 

"What do they want from Jaramana? The town brings together people from all over Syria and welcomes everybody," one resident told the AFP news agency.

 

The population of Jaramana is mainly Christian and Druze, a heterodox offshoot of Islam. It is also home to many Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.

 

Few members of Syria's minority groups have supported the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. They are fearful for their future if the country's majority Sunni Muslim community chooses an Islamist leadership to replace decades of secular⁸ rule.

 

Supporters of the government in Jaramana and other Damascus suburbs have set up armed vigilante groups - known as Popular Committees - to prevent attacks such as Wednesday's. On 29 October, 11 people were killed in a car bombing in Jaramana.

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