Car Bomb in Syria Kills 37, Wounds 50
A car bombing has killed at least 37 civilians and wounded 50 in a government-held area near the city of Hama in Syria this morning. This is the second car bombing in two days — one killed three people yesterday near Homs.
The video above reportedly shows the attack, which the state news agency, Sana, has blamed on anti-Assad rebels. The Associated Press reports that the video was uploaded by the Islamic Front, an umbrella group for rebels in Syria. The group took responsibility for the attack, which Sana says "caused the destruction of a large number of houses and buildings in the [Horrah] village." The attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber in a truck reportedly loaded with three tons of explosives.
According to the anti-Assad group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, there were clashes between government forces and "Islamist fighters" near Hama last night. Al Qaeda-influenced militants have become more prominent among the rebels, and car bomb attacks are common.
Syria's civil war has raged on for three years now. Syrian opposition activists report that over 160,000 people have been killed.
President Obama noted in a press conference yesterday that he is beginning to see the violence in Syria and Iraq as one problem: "The key to both Syria and Iraq is going to be a combination of what happens inside the country, working with moderate Syrian opposition, working with an Iraqi government that is inclusive, and us laying down a more effective counterterrorism platform that gets all the countries in the region pulling in the same direction," he said.
[Image via AP]