Bombs kill mourners at children’s funeral
LONDON: At least 15 civilians were reportedly killed by a suspected barrel bomb attack on a funeral being held in the Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday, just hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had established a “path forward” with his Russian counterpart aiming at an end to hostilities in the country.
Residents had gathered in the rebelcontrolled Bab al-Nayrab district to mourn 11 children who died in air strikes two days before when the explosions struck. Mohammed Khandakani, a hospital volunteer, said one of the injured victims told him two barrel bombs were dropped within minutes, injuring an ambulance driver responding to the first attack and hampering rescue efforts.
Footage posted by activists online showed relatives screaming as victims were carried into a side street in body bags, leaving trails of blood on the floor. A dead body on an abandoned stretcher could be seen next to a partially crushed ambulance, surrounded by rubble and scattered body parts. A baby was visible among the bodies of the dead as children covered in dust were pulled from the ruins. The images could not be independently verified.
The Syrian Network group put the death toll from yesterday’s attacks at 11 but the pro-rebel Aleppo Media Centre said more than 20 people died. Helicopters flown by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad were suspected of carrying out the attack, although officials have persistently denied using barrel bombs. The cheap munitions see containers packed with explosives and shrapnel before being rolled out of helicopters and have been condemned for inflicting indiscriminate casualties in civilian areas by the UN Security Council.
Bab al-Nayrab is in a rebel-controlled part of Aleppo. At least 13 people died in Thursday’s bombing, which destroyed several houses. In a hospital, footage showed several toddlers and children being treated for wounds, next to crying family members covered in blood.
Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city before the start of the civil war, has been devastated by four years of bombing by both sides. Both the Assad regime and its Russian backers are accused of killing civilians with air strikes, while rebels have carried out bomb and rocket attacks on residents living in government districts.
The United States and Russia held talks on Friday aiming to agree a new cessation of hostilities but did not achieve a resolution. The US is leading a coalition including Britain and more than a dozen other nations that are targeting the IS with air strikes and backing rebels fighting the terrorist group on the ground. But Russia, alongside Iran and China, is supporting Mr Assad and follows the Syrian government’s designation of all opposition groups as “terrorists”.
John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, said he and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had established a “path forward” after nine hours of discussion in Geneva. The main focus has been over how to separate opposition groups from jihadists as complex alliances continue to shift.