Syria Says Would-Be Suicide Bomber Killed in Aleppo

Syrian troops killed a would-be suicide bomber in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, a day after devastating bomb blasts in Damascus, state television reported.

"Syrian authorities have foiled an attempted suicide attack in al-Shaar area of Aleppo and killed the would-be attacker," the channel said.

It said the would-be attacker's car was laden with 1,200 kilos (2,640 pounds) of explosives.

The report came as thousands of people demonstrated against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Aleppo and other towns and cities across the country, monitors said.

Anti-regime activists dismissed the official account of a foiled attack as "a lie," according to Aleppo-based activist Mohammad al-Halabi.

"It is not in the interests of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army to stage attacks on a Friday," the day of weekly mass anti-regime protests over the past 14 months, Halabi told Agence France Presse.

"The regime is trying to make people believe there is al-Qaida here, but there is no al-Qaida here," he said.

Thursday's twin bombings in Damascus that killed 55 and injured hundreds of others led to mutual accusations of responsibility by the Damascus authorities and their foes.