DHAKA: At least 16 Syrian soldiers have been killed in a suicide bombing and fighting that followed in a Damascus suburb, activists say.

The blast triggered clashes at a checkpoint near the mainly-Christian area of Jaramana, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State media blamed ‘terrorists’ for the explosion but did not give details, reports the BBC.

Earlier, the US urged the Syrian government to allow aid to reach starving civilians in Damascus.

Washington said the army’s months-long siege left many people in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food, water and medicine.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said the suicide car bombing by the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front triggered heavy fighting at a key checkpoint between Jaramana and the rebel-held town of Mleha.

It said rebels fired rockets into Jaramana during the fighting and Syrian fighter jets retaliated by striking nearby opposition-held areas.

The report could not be confirmed.

BDST: 1642 HRS, OCT 19, 2013
RoR/JCK