Car bombings kill dozens in largest city

BEIRUT – A series of car bombs exploded in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo early Wednesday, killing more than two dozen people, injuring many more and causing massive damage.

Three suicide car bombers struck Saadallah al-Jabri Square, the city’s largest plaza and once the site of massive pro-government rallies, the official Syrian Arab News Agency said. The news service put the death toll at 31, though other reports indicated that 40 or more were killed.

Footage on Syrian television showed a devastating tableau in Aleppo: four- and five-story buildings with their facades blown off, bodies laid out on rubble-strewn streets, and dazed and bloodied survivors wandering amid the ruins as the dead and living were plucked from piles of debris.

The explosions occurred in a government-controlled section of the divided city, roughly split in half between opposition forces and the Syrian military.

By night, hours after the explosions, no group had claimed responsibility.

“We have become accustomed to these bombings and there are only two sides that have the ability to do these kinds of operations; either the regime or Jubhat al Nusra,” an activist who goes by Abo Adel said, referring to an al-Qaida-affiliated group that has taken root in the Syrian conflict.

Los Angeles Times