Dozens killed as suicide bombers hit Syrian capital
DAMASCUS, March 15, 2017
Suicide bombers killed dozens of people in the Syrian capital on Wednesday, the sixth anniversary of anti-government protests that devolved into one of the deadliest wars of the century.
Syrian state media said a first attacker detonated his payload outside the largest courthouse in Damascus, known as Justice Palace. Hours later, it reported that a second bomber attacked a restaurant in the city’s Rabweh district, killing several people, reported Washingtion Post.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, put the death toll at 39, with more than 100 wounded.
Once the site of an Ottoman-era barracks, the Justice Palace is blocks from the labyrinthine Hamidiyeh Bazaar, where wildcat protests against Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s rule began in 2011, before a fierce government crackdown turned the uprising into all-out war.
Wednesday’s bombings were the second attack to hit the capital in a week, stated the report.
On Saturday, scores of people, many thought to be Iraqi Shiite pilgrims, were killed in a double bombing claimed by an Al-Qaeda-linked rebel alliance known as Tahrir al-Sham.
The group also claimed coordinated attacks on security headquarters in the western city of Homs last month, killing at least 42 people.