Syria opposition chief says they carried out Damascus attack

Riad al-Asaad said in a phone interview from his headquarters in Turkey that rebel forces planted a bomb inside a room where senior government officials were meeting Wednesday.

Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha and his deputy Gen. Assef Shawkat, who also was President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, were killed.

The rebel leader denies government claims that it was a suicide attack, saying all those who carried out the operation are safe.