- Title: Car bomb kills at least ten in Syrian coastal town - state TV
- Date: 5th January 2017
- Summary: BLOOD ON GROUND
- Embargoed: 20th January 2017 16:49
- Keywords: car bomb jableh syria
- Location: JABLEH, SYRIA
- City: JABLEH, SYRIA
- Country: Syria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0025XT1Y6F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: At least ten people were killed in a car blast on Thursday (January 5) in the Syrian coastal Mediterranean province of Latakia where two Russian bases are located, state television said.
Video footage obtained by Reuters showed many people gathering around a damaged vehicle. Blood trails were seen on the ground and a clothing store was seen damaged.
Sameera Yousef, who was at the vegetable market at the time of the incident, was among the injured people.
"We were leaving the vegetable market, I was buying vegetables with my daughter, and as I was walking, carrying my things, a white car exploded," she recounted.
Jableh's hospital director said many among around thirty people injured were in critical condition.
State media said scores of cars were on fire and shops were also damaged by the blast in a bustling commercial district of the town of Jableh that lies in the heartland of President Bashar al Assad's minority Alawite sect.
In May, at least 150 people were killed and 200 wounded when bombs hit the port city of Tartous on the Mediterranean coast where Russian military bases are located.
Islamic State claimed the May attacks, saying its fighters had targeted "gatherings of Alawites". Hardline Sunni militants consider Alawites heretics.
Latakia city, which is north of Jableh and capital of the province, has been targeted on a number of occasions by bombings and insurgent rocket attacks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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