Deadly blasts rattle Syria, UN official warns of "shocking " situation
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, January 22, 2013
A suicide car bomber has killed at least 25 people in central Syria on Monday, as a UN humanitarian official said situation in Syria's hotspots is " shocking" and "appalling."
At least 25 people were killed and more than 50 injured Monday when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-packed car in Syria's central province of Hama, the state-run media said.
The blast rocked al-Salamieh area in Hama, the report said, adding that the blast has also left property damage to the city's National Hospital and nearby buildings.
Syria's state-TV branded the blast as "brutal massacre" while other Syrian TVs urged people to donate blood for those injured in the deadly blast.
Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, activists' network, said dozens of people were killed in the blast, adding the car bomb went off before a makeshift headquarters of the pro-government local committee in Salamieh. Quoting medical sources, the Observatory said that among the dead are 30 members of the committee, while several civilians were also killed and the number of dead is likely to reach 50.
In the capital Damascus, meanwhile, an explosive device went off in the upscale district of Mushru Dummar, causing property losses only, local media said.
Activists reported shelling and clashes between the rebels and the government troops, placing the death toll of Monday's violence at 92.
As the violence keeps grinding on, a visiting UN humanitarian official stressed Monday that the humanitarian situation in Syria' s hotspots is "shocking."
Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) John Ging made his remarks in the capital Damascus Monday, during which he said that 519 million U.S. dollars were allocated to meet the humanitarian needs in Syria, adding that only 50 percent has been funded.
Ging said "we found the living conditions of people everywhere that we have been, appalling."
He made an "urgent and desperate" appeal to those of political influence to help bring the long-standing crisis to an end and to the conflicting sides on ground to stop "destroying their country. "
The UN said that there are an estimated 4 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Syria, including at least 2 million who are internally displaced.
The team, which arrived in Syria on Friday, has visited several areas in Syria, including the central province of Homs, and Daraa province in southern Syria.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)