SYRIA: Country appeals to U.N. after Damascus bomb blast

Record ID: 281170

  • Title: SYRIA: Country appeals to U.N. after Damascus bomb blast
  • Date: 15th August 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AUGUST 15, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRUCK THAT EXPLODED AND SCENE OF EXPLOSION SYRIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER FAISAL MIQDAD SHAKING HANDS WITH BABACAR GAYE, UNSMIS CHIEF (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYRIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER FAISAL MIQDAD, SAYING: "This is terrorism. It should be stopped. The international community must work hand-in-hand against terroris
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA5FXLEE7P8XDLVU5AZ7SR16W6W
  • Story Text: Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad on Wednesday (August 15) appealed to the international community and to the U.N. Security Council after a blast near the United Nation's observers' hotel in Damascus.
    "This is terrorism. It should be stopped," Miqdad said after meeting the head of the United Nations Security Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), Babacar Gaye.
    The bomb exploded a fuel truck in the Syrian capital near the Dama Rose, a hotel used by United Nations monitors, wounding three people, Syrian state television said.
    It said the bomb was attached to a gas canister. An opposition activist in the capital saw smoke rising from the scene and ambulances arriving to treat the wounded.
    For his part, Gaye refused to comment on the blast that took place earlier, behind the hotel.
    Fighting in the Syrian conflict has recently been centred in Damascus and Aleppo, where rebels have been holding out against government bombardments and air strikes.
    During the past week government forces have retaken parts of Damascus that were seized by insurgents last month.
    Opposition sources say at least 18,000 people have been killed since rebels began fighting to oust Assad in March 2011.
    The violence has displaced 1.5 million people inside Syria and forced many to flee abroad, with 150,000 registered refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, U.N. figures show.
    The presence of some 300 unarmed U.N. observers since April has not stemmed the conflict.
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