ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />A suicide bomber kills nine people and wounds 20 outside a central Damascus mosque, in another blow to a peace plan that the United Nations says President Bashar al-Assad has failed to honour.<br/> <br />The blast ripped through worshippers at the Zain al-Abideen mosque, which was under heavy security for Friday prayers, often a launchpad for anti-Assad protests, opposition activists said. State media said security officials were among the wounded.<br/> <br />A resident who spoke to security officials at the scene said a man had approached soldiers near the mosque and detonated a bomb belt when challenged. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.<br/> <br />Earlier, a loud blast was heard in the capital's al Sinaa district near a garage used by government buses and pro-Assad militiamen tasked with preventing demonstrations.<br/> <br />Shopkeepers said the first blast hit a black Mercedes, which caught fire. The driver was wounded but no one else was hurt.<br/> <br />Central Damascus has been spared much of the violence, although Friday's blasts occurred less than a week after a car bomb near an Iranian cultural centre in the capital.<br/> <br />A handful of U.N. ceasefire monitors are already on the ground in Syria and U.N. officials said the full advance team of 30 out of a planned 300-strong presence would be there by Monday.
