Syria foils suicide bombing in Damascus

DAMASCUS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian authorities foiled a suicide car bombing in the capital Damascus Thursday, a day after the army forces and the Islamic State (IS) militants fought south of the capital, according to state news agency SANA.

The authorities spotted a plateless car on the Southern Bypass Highway, hunting it down before the suicide bomber driver detonated the car upon reaching a dead end near the Lawan bridge at the western entrance of Damascus, according to the report.

The car, rigged with a large number of explosives, went off early in the morning, leaving no casualties, but it was entirely destroyed and the bomber was dead.

No party claimed responsibility for the would-be bombing, but the attempt comes a day after the IS unleashed a surprise offensive on government-held areas in the Damascus' southern Tadamun neighborhood, capturing 12 buildings.

Later in the day, the Syrian army succeeded to retake the areas infiltrated by IS in a counter-offensive.

The IS militants have lost all of their key strongholds in Syria either to the Syrian forces or the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, holding a few pockets in northeastern Syria as well as in the southern countryside of Damascus.

The attack on Tadamun comes in the context of the IS' bid to prove its capability to wage attacks and undermine the relative calm in the capital. Enditem