Three top Syrian officials killed in Damascus blast

(AP) — A bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting Wednesday in Damascus, killing three top regime officials — including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law — in the harshest blow to Syria's ruling family dynasty and the rebels' boldest attack in the country's civil war.



Syrian state-run TV said the blast came during a meeting of Cabinet ministers and senior security officials in Damascus, which has seen four straight days of clashes between rebels and government troops.



The high-level assassinations could signal a turning point in the civil war as the violence becomes increasingly chaotic.



US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the bombing showed that the bloodshed in Syria was "rapidly spinning out of control," and it was time for the international community to bring "maximum pressure" on Assad to step down and permit a stable transfer of power.



The Assad family has ruled Syria for four decades, creating an ironclad and impenetrable regime. Wednesday's attack was an unheard-of strike on the inner circle.



Syria's rebel commander, Riad al-Asaad, said his forces carried out the attack.



Although state-run TV said it was a suicide blast, al-Asaad said his rebel forces planted a bomb in the room and detonated it. All those involved in carrying out the attack are safe, he said.



"God willing, this is the beginning of the end of the regime," al-Asaad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his base in neighboring Turkey."Hopefully Bashar will be next," he added.



State-run TV confirmed the deaths of two officials: Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, 65, a former army general and the most senior government official to be killed in the rebels' battle to oust Assad; and Gen. Assef Shawkat, the deputy defense minister and one of the most feared figures in Assad's inner circle.



He is married to Assad's elder sister, Bushra.



An authority with direct knowledge of the situation said Hassan Turkmani, a former defense minister, also was killed. The authority asked that his name and profession not be used for fear of reprisals.



The state-run Tv said Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar was wounded in the attack but is in stable condition.



Republican Guard troops surrounded the nearby al-Shami Hospital, where some officials were taken for treatment, witnesses said.



Damascus-based activist Omar al-Dimashki said large numbers of troops and plainclothes police were deployed in the streets after the explosion. Snipers took positions on high buildings in different neighborhoods, he added.



"More than 80 percent of shops in Damascus are closed. People are rushing home," he said.



The attack came two days before the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and sex from dawn to dusk.



Last year, anti-government protests sharply increased during Ramadan.



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