Tweet
CAR BOMB EXPLOSION LEAVES 15 DEAD IN SYRIA'S HOMS
Oman Observer, Sultanate of Oman
March 6 2014
Thursday 06th, March 2014 / 21:35 Written by Oman Observer in
International Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare
on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services0
BEIRUT -- At least 15 people were killed and 12 wounded in a car bomb
blast in the central Syrian city of Homs yesterday, an NGO said.
"At least 15 people were killed and 12 others injured in the Armenian
district," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported an "insurgent attack" on
the main street of the district, "which caused deaths, injuries
and damage."
The neighbourhood, in the east of Homs, is under government control.
Homs, once dubbed the "capital" of Syria's revolution for its
prominent, well-attended anti-government protests, has been the scene
of fierce fighting between the government and dissidents.
Part of its Old City under opposition control has been subjected to
a tight government siege that has left several thousand civilians
trapped.
In recent weeks, UN and Red Crescent teams were able to evacuate some
civilians and distribute food and medicine to those remaining in the
besieged neighbourhoods, but the operations have halted.
In the northern province of Raqa, two suicide bombers exploded inside
base 17, an army base under siege by opposition forces, according to
the Observatory, a Britain-based group that relies on activists and
other witnesses inside Syria.
The group said two fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant had blown themselves up at the headquarters, which is north
of the group's stronghold in Raqa's provincial capital.
Clashes between government forces and ISIL broke out after the blasts,
which the Observatory said killed several soldiers.
In Damascus, the group said, a man died after army shelling a day
earlier on the Palestinian Yarmuk camp, where a ceasefire has broken
down.
The renewed fighting has halted aid delivery efforts to the besieged
camp, where two more people died from lack of food and medical care
on Wednesday, the Observatory said.
Around 130 people are reported to have died because of shortages in
the camp caused by the tight army siege.
More than 140,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the
start of the uprising against President Bashar al Assad in March 2011.
Meanwhile, negotiators have lost contact with a group of nuns kidnapped
from a Syrian town last year after their captors moved them, a source
said yesterday.
The 13 nuns and three maids were kidnapped from the famed Christian
hamlet of Maalula last year and transported to the nearby town of
Yabrud, a dissident stronghold the army is fighting to recapture.
"I was in regular contact with them, but since yesterday we've lost
contact," a source involved in negotiations said.
"It is very likely that they have been transferred to the region
between Yabrud and the Lebanese border" nearby, the source said.
"Contacts are under way to try to ensure their safety."
The source said the kidnappers were from a group belonging to the
Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra Front led by a man called Abu Malek
al Kuwaiti.
She said they had presented negotiators with a list of demands
including the release of all women held in government prisons and
the withdrawal of government forces from Christian religious sites.
The kidnappers also asked for the provision of food to residents of
dissident-held areas in the region and "military demands to do with
the battle of Yabrud," the source.
"Things that are difficult to achieve," the source added. -- AFP
http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=62482
Oman Observer, Sultanate of Oman
March 6 2014
Thursday 06th, March 2014 / 21:35 Written by Oman Observer in
International Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare
on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services0
BEIRUT -- At least 15 people were killed and 12 wounded in a car bomb
blast in the central Syrian city of Homs yesterday, an NGO said.
"At least 15 people were killed and 12 others injured in the Armenian
district," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported an "insurgent attack" on
the main street of the district, "which caused deaths, injuries
and damage."
The neighbourhood, in the east of Homs, is under government control.
Homs, once dubbed the "capital" of Syria's revolution for its
prominent, well-attended anti-government protests, has been the scene
of fierce fighting between the government and dissidents.
Part of its Old City under opposition control has been subjected to
a tight government siege that has left several thousand civilians
trapped.
In recent weeks, UN and Red Crescent teams were able to evacuate some
civilians and distribute food and medicine to those remaining in the
besieged neighbourhoods, but the operations have halted.
In the northern province of Raqa, two suicide bombers exploded inside
base 17, an army base under siege by opposition forces, according to
the Observatory, a Britain-based group that relies on activists and
other witnesses inside Syria.
The group said two fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant had blown themselves up at the headquarters, which is north
of the group's stronghold in Raqa's provincial capital.
Clashes between government forces and ISIL broke out after the blasts,
which the Observatory said killed several soldiers.
In Damascus, the group said, a man died after army shelling a day
earlier on the Palestinian Yarmuk camp, where a ceasefire has broken
down.
The renewed fighting has halted aid delivery efforts to the besieged
camp, where two more people died from lack of food and medical care
on Wednesday, the Observatory said.
Around 130 people are reported to have died because of shortages in
the camp caused by the tight army siege.
More than 140,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the
start of the uprising against President Bashar al Assad in March 2011.
Meanwhile, negotiators have lost contact with a group of nuns kidnapped
from a Syrian town last year after their captors moved them, a source
said yesterday.
The 13 nuns and three maids were kidnapped from the famed Christian
hamlet of Maalula last year and transported to the nearby town of
Yabrud, a dissident stronghold the army is fighting to recapture.
"I was in regular contact with them, but since yesterday we've lost
contact," a source involved in negotiations said.
"It is very likely that they have been transferred to the region
between Yabrud and the Lebanese border" nearby, the source said.
"Contacts are under way to try to ensure their safety."
The source said the kidnappers were from a group belonging to the
Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra Front led by a man called Abu Malek
al Kuwaiti.
She said they had presented negotiators with a list of demands
including the release of all women held in government prisons and
the withdrawal of government forces from Christian religious sites.
The kidnappers also asked for the provision of food to residents of
dissident-held areas in the region and "military demands to do with
the battle of Yabrud," the source.
"Things that are difficult to achieve," the source added. -- AFP
http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=62482