DAMASCUS, OCT 19 -

A large explosion has shaken a suburb of Damascus with a majority Christian population, Syria's state-run news agency has reported.

Details are unclear but an opposition group said at least 16 soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack and fighting that followed.

The blast is said to have taken place in the pro-government area of Jaramana.

Earlier, the US urged the Syrian government to allow aid to reach starving civilians in Damascus .

Washington said the army's months-long siege left many people in rebel-held areas in desperate need of food, water and medicine.

Rebels have previously targeted Jaramana - a Christian and Druze area mostly loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, with bombings and mortar rounds.

In August a car bomb in Jaramana killed 18 people.

UK-based pro-opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a suicide attack by the jihadist al-Nusra Front, triggered heavy fighting at a key checkpoint between Jaramana and the rebel-held town of Mleha.

The report could not be confirmed.

Syria's embattled President Assad has drawn support from Syria's ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians and members of his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

The rebel movement is dominated by Sunni Muslims, who are a majority in Syria.

Posted on: 2013-10-19 01:53