Twin bombings shatter relative calm in Syria's Aleppo

By Weedah Hamza Feb 10, 2012, 13:49 GMT

Beirut - Two bombings in a high-security area of Aleppo on Friday shattered the relative calm in the Syrian city and, according to state television, killed 25 people and wounded 175.

Aleppo is Syria's second-largest city and a commercial hub. It has been relatively quiet through the 11-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in which at least 5,400 people have died, according to United Nations estimates in January.

'We heard a big boom of two back-to-back explosions at 9 am (0700 GMT) coming from a district called New Aleppo. Luckily today is a Friday, which is a weekly holiday in Syria,' Mohamoud, who lives in Aleppo, told dpa by phone.

'We saw several ambulances carrying casualties to nearby hospitals,' he said.

State television showed live footage of bodies and shattered limbs as people frantically searched the rubble for survivors.

It reported that two suicide bombers used cars in the attack, which according to witnesses, targeted a military intelligence facility and a centre for security forces in a high-security area.

'I saw people running out in their night gowns from the adjacent buildings following the blasts. They were screaming,' said Rami, who lives a few blocks away from the targeted area.

Many of those fleeing the site were hit by flying shards of shattered glass. A state television reporter at the scene was shown holding what appeared to be human flesh in his hand as he was counting the dead.

'Look at what those terrorists are doing to the innocent people of Syria,' the reporter said, crying. He held up a skate board and added: 'Children were killed too.'

State television reported that the bombings were the work of 'armed terrorist gangs.'

The opposition, meanwhile, accused the government of orchestrating the attack to tarnish the image of the rebels.

'This is a security area and all cars that enter it are searched. There are also checkpoints on the road,' Abu Firas, an opposition activist based in Aleppo, told dpa by phone.

'Nobody could sneak into the area. It is monitored by cameras around the clock. This is another assault masterminded by this brutal regime,' Naji Tayyar of the opposition Syrian National Council told dpa from Dubai.

Friday's attack was the third to hit a major city in Syria in three months. At least 26 people were killed in a suicide attack in January in the al-Maidan quarter in the capital Damascus, according to state media.

In December, 44 people were killed in twin suicide bombings that targeted an intelligence agency compound in Damascus, according to government figures.