Damascus terrorists 'too reckless' to be al-Qaida

The gang that detonated a bomb and and battled with security forces in Damascus this week may have been inspired by al-Qaida but behaved too recklessly to have belonged to the terror group, a Syrian official said.

Ahmed Haj-Ali, an adviser to the information minister, also said the four were not Syrian and may have entered the country on forged papers. It appeared their nationalities had not yet been established.