Syria Bombing Kills Top Pro-Assad Sunni Preacher

BEIRUT (AP) – A Sunni Muslim preacher who was killed in a suicide bombing in Damascus today is the most senior religious figure to die in Syria’s civil war.

The preacher was killed along with at least 41 others when a bomber struck a mosque in the heart of the Syrian capital.

He was one of the few prominent supporters of President Bashar Assad from the country’s majority Sunnis who have risen up against Assad.

The bombing was among the most serious security breaches seen in the capital. An attack in July that targeted a high-level government crisis meeting killed four top regime officials, including Assad’s brother-in-law and the defense minister.

Among the opposition, there’s a mixture of suspicion and shock over the killing of the preacher.

A spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition told Al-Arabiya TV that he doesn’t know of an opposition group “that could do something like this.”