Syria's Assad vows revenge for mosque bombing

BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed yesterday to avenge the death of a senior pro-government cleric who was killed along with dozens of people in a suicide bombing at a Damascus mosque, saying he would "purge our country" of the militants behind the attack in the heart of the capital.

Both Assad and the rebels seeking to topple him blamed each other for Thursday's bombing. At least 49 people were killed, including the 84-year-old preacher and his grandson, the government said, in one of the most brazen assassinations of the Syrian civil war.

Although the cleric was despised by the rebels for his unwavering support of the regime, opposition leaders condemned his killing.

In a rare statement on Syrian state media, Assad framed the attack as part of a terrorist conspiracy against his government and praised the slain preacher, Sheik Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti.

He blamed "terrorists" -- his standard shorthand for the opposition -- for the attack, and vowed to "purge our country of them." "And this is a promise from the Syrian people, and I am one of them, that your blood, that of your grandson and the blood of all today's martyrs and all martyrs of the homeland will not go in vain," the statement from Assad said. -- AP