Three Syrian journalists were killed after gunmen attacked the headquarters of a pro-government TV channel in a Damascus suburb on Wednesday.
Armed groups fired rocket-propelled grenades into the headquarters of al- Ekhbaria TV at Khan Sheih area before booby-trapping the entire building and blowing it up, Syrian state media quoted Information Minister Emran al-Zoubi as saying.
He said after the early morning attack, the assailants "massacred three journalists after tying them up." Most of the technical equipment were either sabotaged or stolen.
Syrian state TV beamed footage of the blast site showing the entire building which was reduced to rubble. Activists were quoted by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera as saying that the TV headquarters was destroyed in clashes between armed rebels and Syrian troops.
The attack comes after fierce clashes in suburbs of the Syrian capital, described by Opposition activists as the worst there so far. Dozens of people were killed, they said.
Unabated violence in Syria had claimed more than 10,000 lives in the past 15 months since a popular uprising broke out against the oppressive regime of President Bashar al-Assad who was clinging to power despite widespread calls for his quitting the Presidency.
U.N. relief agencies suspended their operation in the Middle East country because of continued violence which had also displaced tens of thousands of people. More than 33,000 Syrians had crossed into neighboring Turkey to escape violence in their home-country.
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