Homs car bomb kills 8 in Alawite area
Source: Agencies |
June 9, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
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A CAR bomb exploded yesterday in a Syrian neighborhood largely populated by the Shiite offshoot sect that dominates the regime, killing eight people including three women and a teenager, according to a state-owned TV station.
Outside the central city of Homs where the blast took place, government troops pressed an offensive against rebels in nearby villages.
The state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the booby-trapped car exploded in a populated area near a roundabout in Adawiya, a mostly Alawite district. The station's reporter on the scene said 10 people were wounded by the explosion, which also heavily damaged houses in the area.
Al-Ikhbariya's footage shows frantic residents running around, blood splattered on the ground, and a badly mangled car. Other cars were also damaged. The reporter said the car was carrying about 100 kilograms of explosives.
The station had earlier said the blast was caused by a suicide bomb.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on informants inside Syria, said the car was booby-trapped. It said seven were killed.
The rare explosion in a neighborhood populated by Alawites, the sect to which President Bashar Assad belongs, comes as the conflict takes increasingly sectarian overtones.
The rebels are largely from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, joined by Sunni fighters from other countries.
The government's offensive in south of the city, in contrast, has been backed by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah group.
The government on Wednesday recaptured the town of Qusair. Syrian state TV said yesterday government troops now had control of Buwaydah village between Qusair and Homs city.
Outside the central city of Homs where the blast took place, government troops pressed an offensive against rebels in nearby villages.
The state-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV said the booby-trapped car exploded in a populated area near a roundabout in Adawiya, a mostly Alawite district. The station's reporter on the scene said 10 people were wounded by the explosion, which also heavily damaged houses in the area.
Al-Ikhbariya's footage shows frantic residents running around, blood splattered on the ground, and a badly mangled car. Other cars were also damaged. The reporter said the car was carrying about 100 kilograms of explosives.
The station had earlier said the blast was caused by a suicide bomb.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on informants inside Syria, said the car was booby-trapped. It said seven were killed.
The rare explosion in a neighborhood populated by Alawites, the sect to which President Bashar Assad belongs, comes as the conflict takes increasingly sectarian overtones.
The rebels are largely from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, joined by Sunni fighters from other countries.
The government's offensive in south of the city, in contrast, has been backed by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah group.
The government on Wednesday recaptured the town of Qusair. Syrian state TV said yesterday government troops now had control of Buwaydah village between Qusair and Homs city.
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