Daily Mirror

68 kids among the 126 killed in Syrian bus convoy blast

CARNAGE Bombed coach

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AT least 68 children were among the 126 people killed by a bomb attack on buses carrying refugees from besieged Syrian towns.

The hungry youngsters had approached a vehicle full of explosives as its occupants starting dishing out crisps – and seconds later, a huge blast ripped the convoy apart.

The bomb went off at a checkpoint where an agreed handover of evacuees was due and medics warned that the death toll could rise.

The Syrian Observator­y for Human Rights said at least 109 evacuees were killed, along with aid workers and rebels. Many more were hurt in the attack in rebel-held territory west of Aleppo.

ATROCITY

The evacuees were being moved from government­held Foah and Kefraya. No group has claimed the strike but it is thought the vehicle could not have got there without regime permission.

President Bashar al-Assad’s state-run TV news network blamed rebel groups.

Separately, several people were reported to have been hurt by shelling in the capital Damascus. In his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis called the strike a “vile attack on fleeing refugees”.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson branded President Assad an “arch-terrorist” as he warned that the US could launch new strikes. The Foreign Secretary said: “Assad uses chemical weapons because they are not only horrible and indiscrimi­nate. They are also terrifying. In that sense he is himself an arch-terrorist.”

He added: “America has struck and could strike again. That creates an ambiguity that should prey on the guilty minds of Damascus.”

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ORDEAL Syrian evacuees
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