Damascus car bombing wrecks Syria Eid al-Adha truce
BBC News - 26 October 2012
The Damascus blast is the latest in a string of car bombings to hit the capital
The
Syrian capital Damascus has been hit by a car-bomb attack, shattering a
four-day ceasefire that had begun hours earlier to mark an Islamic
holiday.
State TV reported five people had been killed and more than 30 wounded, with children among the casualties.
The UN-brokered ceasefire began at 06:00 (04:00 GMT), but fighting has continued across the country.
The truce, to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday, was proposed by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who hoped it would lead to a peace process.
Both rebels and the army had said they would only observe the truce if the other side held their fire.
Activists said that by early afternoon about 20 people had been killed in sporadic clashes across the country, which is a lower figure than usual for a day's violence in Syria.
The BBC's James Reynolds on the Turkey-Syria border says fighting has been going on throughout the day near the frontier.
But the car bomb in Damascus appears to have wrecked any chance that the truce might take hold.
The uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government started in March 2011.
Activists say more than 35,000 people have been killed since then, while the UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.
Labels: Chaos, Conflict, Political Realities Middle East, Syria
posted by Pieface @ Friday, October 26, 2012
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