Syria jets kill 60+ as envoy visits
2012-12-24 08:03
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Syria
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Beirut - A government airstrike on Sunday on a bakery in a
rebel-held town in central Syria killed more than 60 people, activists said,
casting a pall over a visit by the international envoy charged with negotiating
an end to the country's civil war.
The strike on the town of Halfaya left scattered bodies and
debris up and down a street, and more than a dozen dead and wounded were
trapped in tangled heap of dirt and rubble.
The attack appeared to be the government response to a newly
announced rebel offensive seeking to drive the Syrian army from a constellation
of towns and village north of the central city of Hama. Halfaya was the first
of the area's towns to be "liberated" by rebel fighters, and
activists saw Sunday's attack as payback.
"Halfaya was the first and biggest victory in the Hama
countryside," said Hama activist Mousab Alhamadee via Skype. "That's
why the regime is punishing them in this way."
The total death toll remained unclear, but the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 60 people were killed. That
number is expected to rise, it said, because some 50 of those wounded in the
strike are in critical condition.
Amateur videos posted online Sunday showed residents and
armed rebels rushing to the scene. One stopped to cover a mound of human flesh
lying in the street with his coat.
More than a dozen dead or seriously wounded people lay in
the street near a simple, concrete building, some in puddles of blood. Near its
front wall, bodies jutted from a pile of dirt and rubble on the sidewalk.
Rebels screamed in distress while trying to extract the
bodies, while others carried away the wounded.
It was unclear from the videos if the building was indeed a
bakery. Nearly all the dead and wounded appeared to be men, some wore
camouflage, raising the possibility that the jet had targeted a rebel
gathering.
For the past week, rebels have been launching attacks in the
area, most notably in the nearby village of Morek, where they hope to seize
control of the country's main north-south highway, preventing the regime from
getting supplies to its forces further north in the provinces of Idlib and
Aleppo.
- SAPA
