Thousands pray for Damascus bombing dead

Thousands of regime backers massed at a mosque in the Syrian capital today for funeral prayers for policemen killed in a Damascus bombing, as the government vowed to respond with an “iron fist” to security threats.

Coffins bearing 11 policemen, covered with Syrian flags, were taken into the Al-Hassan mosque for the prayers, a day after the explosion ripped through a Damascus intersection, killing 26 people and wounding 63. Officials said the attack was a suicide bombing, the second in two weeks to hit the normally quiet Syrian capital.