Dozens Killed in Explosions at Syria’s Aleppo University

Posted on Jan 15, 2013

AP/SANA

Damage at the University of Aleppo after it was hit by two blasts.

More than 80 people were killed in two blasts that struck the University of Aleppo in northern Syria on the first day of exams. The bombs exploded between a residence hall and an architecture facility.

Government forces blame rebels for the attack, while opposition activists said fighter jets sent by the Bashar al-Assad regime bombed the campus. Jerky, non-graphic footage below, posted by opposition activist network Local Coordination Committees, purports to show a scene in which warplanes bombed the school.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based activist group, said at least 83 people were killed and 150 injured, with some in critical condition. It said there were “conflicting reports of air raids and two explosions on the ground.”

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

BBC:

The education minister called for a nationwide day of mourning on Wednesday and said President Bashar al-Assad had ordered the “immediate rebuilding of damaged parts of the university”.
A military source told AFP that a stray surface-to-air missile fired by rebels had hit the campus, which lies in a government-controlled area of the city. The nearest rebel-held area is more than a mile away.

However, no rebel group has said it was behind the blasts, and opposition activists said government had sent fighter jets to bomb the campus.

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