Damascus rocked by bomb

BEIRUT – The latest in a string of bombings rocked Syria’s capital, Damascus, on Sunday as deeply divided Syrian opposition figures outside the country moved toward creating a unified government in exile.

The explosion, near a trade union office, injured 11 people, the official Syrian news service reported.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists began talks in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar in a bid to revitalize their fractured movement. Deep divisions among the opposition have frustrated the United States and other governments seeking to work with a dissident front united in efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and others have called for a more unified opposition coalition including representatives from inside Syria and members of the nation’s minority groups, such as Christians and Alawites. Assad and many of his top aides are adherents of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The Syrian National Council, the best-known exiled opposition group, is seeking to retain its stature as the pre-eminent faction and position itself as the basis for a government in exile. Some critics have assailed the council as top heavy with exiles who have lived outside Syria for decades, and said it’s dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, the pan-Arab Islamist group that has not had a presence in Syria for years.

The United States and other nations are said to be backing a proposal from a well-known exiled dissident, Riad Seif, to set up a new umbrella group that would include representation of rebel fighters, opposition military councils, the external opposition and others. The Syrian National Council would be part of the revamped coalition but would not dominate.

Seif, a prominent businessman and former Syrian parliamentarian, said Sunday he would not be a candidate to lead any government in exile.