A number of suspects have been arrested in an all-out hunt ordered by the Syrian Government for perpetrators of the bombing of a synagogue in Damascus yesterday which took the lives of seven Jews and injured twenty-seven others, Routers reported here today. Syrian President Husni Zaim, the Routers dispatch added, has ordered an intensive police search. Hospitals to which the injured were rushed were commanded to give the victims the best attention and diet available.
Premier Mohsen el Barazi, who visited the scene of the explosion, which took place in the courtyard of the synagogue, visited the hospitalized victims to see that they were properly cared for. He stated to a representative of the United States Legation at Damascus that the bombing was an attack on the authority of the government and an affront to its prestige. He asserted that every means was being employed to discover the criminals responsible and bring them to trial.
The explosion occurred when a bomb, apparently homemade, was thrown into the entrance of the synagogue just as preparations were being made for the Sabbath services, Eye-witnesses to the explosion said that the bombing had been the work of three men who were seen fleeing immediately after the bomb went off. The witnesses asserted that they would be able to recognize one or more of the men.
In the explosion the building was considerably damaged and windows of other buildings in the vicinity were shattered. After the explosion, bereaved women searched the debris for members of their families, while police and ambulances blocked the streets around the scene.
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