DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria blamed al-Qaeda-inspired militants Thursday for a Damas cus car bombing in September that killed 17 people.
Ten men and one woman — said to be members of the Fatah Islam group that battled the army in Lebanon last year — appeared on Syrian state television and claimed to have carried out the bombing, a rarity in Syria. The station gave no indication of how or when they had been arrested.
The unusual broadcast reflected Syrian efforts to portray themselves as victims of al-Qaeda-linked militants that the government is trying to crack down on.
The United States has accused Syria of not doing enough to curb the flow of militant fighters across its borders and into Iraq. In late October, a U.S. helicopter raid into Syria near Iraq’s border targeted what American officials said was a militant leader there.
