A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with 1.5 metric tons of explosives killed at least 31 people,Syria, Hama
A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with 1.5 metric tons of explosives
killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens in the Syrian city of Hama on
Sunday, state media and a monitoring group reported.
The man blew himself up inside the vehicle on a busy road on the outskirts of
the city in central Syria, the SANA news agency said. It blamed "terrorists",
the term it uses to describe rebel forces trying to topple President Bashar
al-Assad.
The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack
targeted an army checkpoint but most of the dead were civilians.
Syria's 2-1/2-year-old conflict began as peaceful protests but has turned
into civil war. More than 100,000 people have died, according to United Nations
figures, in fighting that is now spread across most of the country.
Rebels have been joined by hardline Islamists, some of them linked to al
Qaeda, who have become increasingly powerful among opposition forces.
According to the Observatory, the suicide bomber was from the Nusra Front, an
al Qaeda affiliate that has frequently used suicide bombers to attack military
and political targets.
Pictures on Syria TV showed firemen trying to put out huge fires as black
smoke rose from charred trucks and cars.
Rebels also used a car bomb a day earlier to attack a checkpoint on the
outskirts of Damascus. Heavy clashes erupted after the blast and continued on
Sunday.
Rebels said they seized the first checkpoint and were now fighting to capture
a second one down the road. The checkpoints, to the southeast of the capital,
sit between the rebel-held suburb of Mleiha and the government-held suburb of
Jaramana.
"These checkpoints are the fortress between us and the next air force defense
site," said Nidal, a rebel speaking by Skype. "If we can destroy it we can
liberate the base."
Syrian military jets have pounded nearby rebel-held areas. Rebels hold
several suburbs ringing the capital but have yet to make deep inroads into the
capital, due to a sustained army blockade.
Doctors in one suburb to the west of Damascus, Mouadamiya, have reported an
increasing number of deaths due to malnutrition.
A fighter in the eastern suburbs said government forces had blocked the main
entry point for food and supplies to that region two days ago.
"That is where we used to get our food and flour. If it stays closed, we will
be destroyed," he said, asking not to be named.
International powers are trying to bring the two sides to peace talks in
Geneva next month. But the opposition has been reluctant to attend and Assad's
government says it will not negotiate the president's removal.
Beirut (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew up a truck packed with explosives at an
army checkpoint in Syria's central city of Hama Sunday, killing at least 31
people, a monitoring group said.
"At least 31 people, including regime troops, were killed when a man
detonated a truck laden with explosives at a checkpoint near an agricultural
vehicles company on the road linking Hama to Salamiyeh," the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based watchdog said the death toll was likely to rise, as "there
are dozens of wounded, some of them in critical condition".
State news agency SANA reported that the blast left 30 dead and injured
dozens.
Quoting an unnamed official, SANA said "a terrorist bomber blew himself up in
an explosives-laden truck at the eastern entrance to Hama city on the road to
Salamiyeh, killing 30 people and injuring dozens of others".
The blast "hit an area with busy traffic, just as a truck carrying gas for
home use was passing," said the agency.
The explosion damaged at least 20 vehicles and several homes and shops.
Pro-regime broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya aired footage from the scene of the
blast, showing widespread damage.
It also broadcast images of torn body parts, and vehicles in flames.
In the first months after the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's
regime erupted in March 2011, Hama saw some of the largest demonstrations
against his rule.
But in late summer of that year, security
forces stormed the city, killing scores of people. They have held a tight grip
on the city ever since.
While several other Syrian cities have been
engulfed by fighting, Hama has seen only sporadic violence in recent months.
However, the surrounding province has seen
some major clashes between government troops and rebels.
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