Assad vows to 'cleanse' Syria after mosque attack
Reuters
Damascus: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to "cleanse" his country of extremism on Friday, a day after a suicide bomber killed more than 45 people including a key pro-regime Sunni cleric in a mosque.
The attack was also condemned by the opposition, who raised the possibility that the regime was behind the deadly blast at the Iman Mosque in Damascus on Thursday night.
State news agency SANA said that 49 people had been killed, including Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, the most prominent Sunni cleric to back Assad's regime against a Sunni-led uprising.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 46, saying that around 15 of the wounded were in critical condition and the toll was likely to rise.
The attack came as heavy fighting raged across Syria, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the United Nations would investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the conflict.
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