21st Century Wire says…
A blast has ripped through a Syrian bus convoy on the outskirts of Aleppo today. Residents of two villages, Foua and Kefraya, were being evacuated after it was reported a deal was struck between warring parties.
According to Syria state television the blast was caused by a suicide bomber in a vehicle with 39 people reportedly killed, including many children, although these figures will be revised throughout the day. Other death toll estimates range form 65, and up to 100.
Some of the images circulating throughout social media of the aftermath are extremely graphic in nature and reader discretion is advised.
According to Arabic Asharq Al-Awsat, humanitarian workers were among those killed in the blast.
More on this report from RT…
RT
A Syrian bus convoy transporting the residents of two villages being evacuated in a deal between warring parties has been hit by a blast on the outskirts of Aleppo, according to SANA news agency. Thirty nine people have been reportedly killed.
The blast was reportedly caused by a suicide attacker detonating a car bomb. Syrian state TV said an unknown number of people had been killed and wounded.
Pictures have emerged on social media purporting to show the aftermath of the blast. Humanitarian workers were among the victims of the attack, according to Arabic Asharq Al-Awsat.
Very graphic footage from the scene posted online shows burned out vehicles with the dead lying on the ground and inside buses, some covered with blankets.
“A very powerful blast” killed “many women and children” inside the buses, an eyewitness said while filming the video. There were also fighters from the Free Syrian Army and other groups who were securing the area among the victims, he added.
No one knows the exact number of the victims yet, the eyewitness said, claiming that “there are more dead people inside the buses.”
Photos from the scene show bodies near blackened buses with blown out windows.
The bus convoy was transporting up to 5,000 residents from the mostly Shiite villages of Foua and Kefraya.
Terrorists reportedly loaded the car in which they hid the bomb with children’s food supplies to sneak it into the area, SANA reported, citing its correspondent.
The residents, along with hundreds of pro-government fighters, had come from the two rebel-besieged villages in northwest Idlib province, Reuters reported. In exchange, hundreds of Sunni insurgents and their families moved out of government-controlled areas near Damascus, Syria’s capital.
At least three members of Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) were moderately injured in the attack, while a few of the humanitarian organization’s ambulances were damaged in the blast, according to a source within SARC quoted by SANA.
The staff were supervising the evacuation process.
Several hours after the attack, the transfer resumed, AP reported, citing Syrian television.
Updates to follow via RT
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