Syria Buries Damascus Dead as Security Forces Kill 23 Civilians

23 Syrian civilians were shot dead on Saturday as the regime held funerals on Saturday for 26 people killed in a Damascus suicide bombing that it called a "terrorist attack," promising an "iron fist" response to the second such incident in two weeks.

Local Coordination Committees announced that Syrian security forces shot dead 23 civilians including a child.

The Committees said that the 7 civilians were killed in Homs, 4 others in Harasta in Reef Damascus, and 12 in Idlib.

Seventeen civilians were reported killed on Friday.

Meanwhile, the funerals were taking place in the al-Hassan mosque in the working-class Midan neighborhood where Friday's attack took place.

The opposition has pointed the finger at the regime itself, as it did after similar attacks in the capital on December 23, in which 44 people died.

As thousands of regime supporters gathered outside, many waving flags, Damascus mufti Bashir Eid preached a funeral sermon in the presence of several ministers, officials and ordinary people.

"With our souls and our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you," the crowd outside chanted to President Bashar Assad.

The ruling party's Al-Baath daily devoted half of its Saturday issue to the attack, in which 63 people were also wounded, including two pages of color photos of the carnage.

The headline leading three pages of commentary and interviews said Syrians were calling for the perpetrators to be "struck with an iron fist."

On Friday, the interior ministry said "we will strike with an iron fist all those who undermine the security of the nation."

Another headline said "we are not afraid of oil money," an allusion to alleged involvement in the 10-month-old pro-democracy uprising by Gulf Arab oil states.

And the official Ath-Thawra daily said "terrorism is uprooted, not cured, and its eradication is inevitable."

It pointed the finger at Islamists, saying they "committed many crimes in the past and they are doing it again today as a sign of defiance."

That was a reference to bloody attacks during a rebellion by the Muslim Brotherhood between 1978 and 1986 which was brutally crushed by Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez.

But the Brotherhood, which has since renounced violence, said on Friday that "we hold the regime, its agents and its gangs, fully responsible for this crime."

It had also accused the government of orchestrating the December 23 attacks that the regime blamed on Al-Qaeda, and it called for an international probe, claiming the attack benefited the regime.

The umbrella Syrian National Council, which includes the Brotherhood, said Friday's bombing "clearly bears the regime's fingerprints."

The United States condemned the attack, again calling for Assad to step down, while U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said "all violence is unacceptable and must stop immediately."

Assad ally Iran condemned the "terrorist attack."

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said: "Without doubt, the unity and vigilance of the Syrian government and people are disappointing the enemies of Syria who think only of internal war, breaking up the country and making it submit to the demands of the axis of America and Zionism."

The SNC said the U.N. Security Council had to take up the matter of the bloodshed, which the world body estimated in December had killed more than 5,000 people since pro-democracy protests erupted last March.

It said "a joint effort between the Arab League and the United Nations Security Council represents a first step toward the urgent and necessary measures to assure the protection of civilians, and to ensure that the regime does not commit additional bombings and killings."

Activists have called for an Arab League observer mission that has been in the country since December 26 to admit its failure to stem the bloodshed and hand the task over to the United Nations.

U.N. leader Ban reaffirmed an offer to train the Arab League observers.

The mission has been trying to assess whether the government is complying with a peace deal aimed at ending its deadly crackdown.

But there has been no let-up in the violence amid new criticism of the observers.

The Arab League is to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the mission.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who heads an Arab League task force on Syria, has acknowledged "mistakes" in the monitoring mission.