Syria blames deadly bombing on Islamist extremists

"A preliminary inquiry has shown that the car which exploded Saturday came across a border post from a neighboring Arab country and that the terrorist driving it blew himself up with the vehicle," the agency said.

A car packed with 200 kilos (440 pounds) of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on a road to Damascus airport in what Interior Minister General Bassam Abdel Majid called "a terrorist act."

It was the deadliest attack in two decades in Syria, where security is run with an iron fist. The minister said all casualties were civilians.

The bombing came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity involving Syria.

It has launched indirect peace talks with archfoe Israel after an eight-year freeze, moved to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon and opened the door to improved relations with the West.

Syria has borders with Arab neighbors Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, as well as Turkey and Israel.

In February, a top commander with the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, who was on Israeli and U.S. most wanted lists for a string of attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, was killed in a Damascus car bombing.

In August, Syria confirmed the assassination of army general Mohammed Sleiman, described in Arab media as the regimes liaison with Hezbollah.