Beirut  - The Damascus car bombing that killed 17 civilians Saturday was carried out by an Iraqi suicide bomber with the al-Qaeda terrorist network, a Lebanese news website said.

The Now Lebanon website quoting well-informed Syrian sources said that the bomber had recently entered Syria and had been in communication with al-Qaeda members in the capital.

The sources confirmed earlier speculation that the attack was targeting a security installation located on a road leading to Damascus airport.

"It was a message to Syrian authorities, who were putting pressure on the al-Qaeda network in Syria, especially after Syria's openness towards the West and in particular France, and the indirect Syrian- Israeli peace talks," the website, which is believed to be close to the anti-Syrian Lebanese majority, quoted the sources as saying.

Saturday's bombing was a warning from al-Qaeda that they would turn Syria into a "Jihad land," the sources added.

The website, siting the sources, said Syrian security had carried out a series of arrests and taken more than 35 people, mostly Syrians and other Arab nationals, into custody.

Saturday's car bomb, which also wounded 14 people, went off near the busy Sayyida Zainab district at 8:45 am (0545 GMT). The 200-kilo bomb, which exploded near a secret service facility, was believed to be targeting a senior intelligence official who was in the building at the time, Lebanese media reported. (dpa)