Activists: At least 9 killed by Damascus car bomb

January 3, 2013 | Modified: January 3, 2013 at 6:48 pm
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In this image taken from video obtained from Bambuser, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke rises from buildings after an airstrike hit Douma City, Syria on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. Airstrikes continued across Syria on Thursday as Syrian President Bashar Assad's military stepped up its assault on areas that surround the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Bambuser via AP video)

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian activist group says a car bomb in Damascus has killed at least nine people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blast in the Masakin Barzeh neighborhood late Thursday is expected to rise because many of the wounded are in critical condition.

Despite gains in other parts of Syria by rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad, he has largely kept his grip on the capital, Damascus.

The U.N. says more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011. The conflict has since evolved into a civil war.