Car Bomb Blast Rocks Northern Syrian City
A car bombing killed three people and wounded at least 25 others in Syria’s second-largest city Sunday, opposition activists said.
The bomb detonated near the political security branch in the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency described the blast as a “terrorist bombing” and said that two people were killed. The explosion ripped the facade off a residential building, the government news agency said.
The blast occurred a day after a series of explosions in Damascus that killed dozens.
A Syrian rebel leader vehemently refuted the government’s claim that so-called “terrorists” — not the regime itself — were behind the Damascus attacks.
“This is the regime’s game. This is how they play their dirty tricks. They carry out these types of explosions from time to time to get more international support and compassion,” Capt. Ammar al-Wawi of the rebel Free Syria Army said Sunday. “They are desperately trying to prove to the world that they are fighting against armed gangs, but the reality is they are the ones who are doing all the killings.”
At least 20 people were killed in clashes throughout Syria Sunday, including two children and seven soldiers from the Free Syria Army, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria. The deaths included nine people killed in Idlib and four people killed in the Damascus suburbs, the network of opposition activists reported.
There were reports of several other casualties after shelling in the northeastern city of Deir Ezzor, according to the LCC.
Four Syrian soldiers were killed in fighting with defectors near the northern city of Jisr al-Shugur, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Pro-Assad forces also assaulted and arrested opposition leader Mohamed Sayed Rasas during an anti-government protest in Damascus, the observatory said.