Syrian air raid kills dozens

Over 82 dead in one of deadliest attacks

BEIRUT: Syrian government warplanes attacked a busy market in a rebel-held suburb of the capital Damascus yesterday, killing at least 82 people and wounding more than 200 in one of the deadliest single incidents involving government air strikes since the crisis began nearly five years ago, activists said.

Syrian government air raids on rebelheld areas throughout the country have killed thousands over the past few years.

The air raids on the market in Douma occurred during rush hour when people were out shopping on the first working day of the week in Syria, the activists said.

“This is an official massacre that was carried out deliberately,” said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said warplanes fired the first missile and minutes later when people gathered in the aftermath, another missile hit the same area.

Mr Abdurrahman, whose group has a network of activists around the country, said a total of four missiles were fired on the market, killing 82 and wounding more than 200. He said the death toll is expected to rise because many of the wounded are in critical condition.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the air raids killed at least 100 and wounded about 300, adding that rescue workers were digging through the rubble last night in search of survivors.

Discrepancies in death tolls immediately after an attack are not uncommon in Syria.

“The situation is catastrophic,” a Douma-based activist who goes by the name of Mazen al-Shami said via Skype. He said clinics in the area were full and many of the wounded are being rushed in civilian cars to other medical facilities since ambulances were overwhelmed.

Al-Shami said mosque loudspeakers were issuing calls for residents to donate all types of blood. He added that hundreds of people were in the busy market when the first missile struck the area, inflicting heavy casualties.

An amateur video posted online by activists showed some 40 bodies of men and boys lined on the side of a street as more bodies were being brought in. Another video showed people helping the wounded leave the heavily damaged market area.

The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other reporting of the events.

Syria’s civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded at least 1 million.

On Saturday, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria released seven members of a US-backed rebel faction that it abducted late last month, the rebel group said in a statement.

The Division 30 rebel group said in its statement late on Saturday that it hopes the Nusra Front will release the group’s commander who has been held since July 30.

Days after the abduction, the Nusra Front attacked the Division 30 command in northern Syria, leading to the nearcollapse of the group that has dozens of fighters.