Los Angeles Times –
Three car bombings rocked the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Wednesday morning killing an estimated 40 people and injuring dozens. The blast caused extensive damage and left huge piles of rubble in the city’s largest square.
The bombings, for which no one claimed responsibility, happened in the Sadullah Al-Jabri Square and are said to have targeted a military officers club and was not far from the city’s Ba’ath party headquarters. The square has been the site of the city’s largest pro-regime rallies and has remained under government control even as Free Syrian Army rebels continue to seize control of additional neighborhoods in the city, the country’s commercial hub.
“A series of large explosions shook Sadullah Al-Jabri square and targeted the officers club and destroyed the officers club completely,” said Abu Firas, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Council for Aleppo and its Suburbs.
There were differing reports from activists of who was killed in the blasts, with some saying the dead were all shabiha militiamen and army officers and others saying that almost two dozen civilians were killed. State media blamed the explosion on “terrorists,” the term it uses to refer to all opposition members.
State media footage from the aftermath showed streets covered in rubble and the front of the officers club building completely destroyed. Plainclothes men carried bodies from the scene.
“We don’t have any details on the explosion,” Abu Firas said. “The picture is still unclear.”
The explosions were felt throughout the city, parts of which have been under regular government air strikes since armed rebels first entered in late July. Residents reported gunfire after the bombings and ambulances continued to race to the scene to carry away the dead and injured.
The square is both a strategic and symbolic area near the center of the city and rebels have had their sights set on taking it over ever since clashes began in Aleppo. It is not far from the old city, where for days fierce clashes have raged between rebels and regime forces as centuries-old historical areas have burned.
