At
least 10 children are among 22 people killed in a twin bombings outside
a primary school in the government-controlled city of Homs in central
Syria.
A Syrian
pro-government channel broadcast on Wednesday brief footage of the
aftermath, showing parents looking for their children and schoolbags and
bloodstains on the ground. Flames rose from a car nearby.
The blasts
happened as children were leaving the Ekremah al-Makhzoumi primary
school, said an official with the Homs governorate who refused to be
named.
The first
explosion was from a car bomb parked and detonated in front of the
school, followed minutes later by a suicide bomber who drove by and
detonated his explosives-laden car, said the anonymous official.
It was one of the deadliest attacks in Homs in months. At least 56 more people were wounded in the incident, the official said.
There was no
immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, but Syrian
rebels fighting to oust Assad have carried out such bombings during the
country’s civil war.
There have
been horrific attacks against civilians by all sides throughout the
brutal conflict, now in its fourth year, but rarely have children
appeared to be the direct target.
In May,
Syrian government forces dropped a bomb in the northern city of Aleppo,
hitting a complex that held a school alongside a rebel compound.
At least 19 people, including 10 children were killed in that attack.
