WORLD_ Syrian city of Aleppo hit by car bomb

Syrian city of Aleppo hit by car bomb

Several people reported dead after explosion close to security office in country's second city

Reuters
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 18 March 2012 12.35 GMT
Article history


The scene of the car bomb in Aleppo, Syria. Photograph: Sana/EPA

A car bomb has hit Syria's second city, Aleppo, a day after 27 people were killed when blasts rocked Damascus.

The car bombing came as security forces arrested and beat activists at a rare anti-government protest in the centre of the capital.

The British-based opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least three people had been killed and 25 wounded by the explosion close to a state security office in Aleppo.

The state news channel Syria TV said the "terrorist" attack had been between two residential buildings in the al-Suleimaniya district, behind a post office building.

It showed building fronts blasted open, masonry littering the street and a blood-spattered street corner.

Activists and the government traded blame for the explosion, as they have over previous bombings.

The TV channel showed pictures of bloody bodies and charred buildings from earlier blasts. "Their gift to us," said a caption, followed by a bloody handprint. "Their fingerprints are obvious."

But an activist in Aleppo from the opposition's local Revolutionary Council said the government was behind the attack.

"These explosions are always done by the regime to discourage people from joining the revolution … they want to make our uprising seem like a terrorist operation to the rest of the world, but it is not," said the activist, who called himself Marwan and spoke to Reuters by phone.

The opposition reported heavy raids by security forces and fighting with rebels in northern and southern Syrian provinces and suburbs of Damascus.

In the capital, as crowds gathered for memorials to victims of Saturday's car bombs, security forces broke up an opposition march of more than 200 people when protesters began shouting: "The people want to topple the regime."

The phrase has echoed through the wave of Arab uprisings that began last year and has preceded the overthrow of autocratic rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

"They were walking through an area in central Damascus, near Sana [the state news agency]," said Rami Abdelrahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"At first they shouted slogans against violence and the police didn't do anything, but as soon as they started to call for regime change the police rushed in and started beating people with canes."

The protest, which called for nonviolent resistance to the government, had been led by moderate opposition leaders previously tolerated by the regime because of their calls for dialogue and rejection of foreign intervention.

Activists said Sunday's march aimed to commemorate the peaceful roots of Syria's uprising, which have been overshadowed by a growing armed insurgency against state security forces.

The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed by security forces in the crackdown on a revolt against four decades of rule by the Assad family.



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