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Death toll in blast targeting evacuees from besieged towns in Aleppo rises to 70 (UPDATE)

Arab World Materials 15 April 2017 20:40 (UTC +04:00)
A source told Sputnik that a suicide blast targeting a bus convoy with evacuees from the besieged Syrian towns of Fua and Kefraya has risen to 70
Death toll in blast targeting evacuees from besieged towns in Aleppo rises to 70 (UPDATE)

20:40 (GMT+4) A source told Sputnik that a suicide blast targeting a bus convoy with evacuees from the besieged Syrian towns of Fua and Kefraya has risen to 70, Sputnik reported.

Earlier in the day, a blast occurred near a bus convoy evacuating residents of the besieged Shiite towns of Fua and Kefraya to Aleppo. The previous death toll was 20 with 50 others injured.

"The number of victims [in the explosion] is at least 70; over 130 are injured. It is difficult to say as there are many burnt bodies and body parts around the damaged buses," the source told Sputnik.

According to the souce, there are many children and women among those killed.

18:11 (GMT+4)An explosion near a bus convoy waiting to enter the Syrian city of Aleppo killed or wounded several people on Saturday, pro-government media outlets, pro-opposition activists and a monitor reported.

A military media unit run by Damascus ally Hezbollah said a suicide attacker had detonated a car bomb near the convoy, Reuters reported.

Pictures posted on state media showed what appeared to be the aftermath of the explosion, with bodies lying on the ground and fires belching out thick black plumes of smoke. Buses were blackened by the blast with their windows blown out.

The blast hit the Rashidin area on Aleppo's outskirts, where dozens of buses carrying mostly Shi'ite residents of two villages that are being evacuated in a deal between warring sides were waiting to enter the city.

Syrian state TV said an unknown number of people had been killed and wounded.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported casualties, saying the explosion appeared to be caused by a bomb.

The buses had been waiting since late on Friday outside the city while the evacuation deal halted.

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