At least 50 people were killed and dozens wounded in two explosions that rocked the University of Aleppo in Syria’s second-largest city yesterday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
State television said there had been one explosion at the university, which lies in the government-controlled area, describing it as a “terrorist attack”. One of the university buildings was damaged.
The state news agency said the explosion occurred on the first day of exams.
Rebels have used car bombs and suicide attacks in fighting government forces.
Fighting between rebels and government forces has reached a stalemate in Aleppo and left the city divided. Rebels say they control more than half the province.
The second explosion reported by the Observatory, a British-based opposition monitoring group, may have been caused by a burning car, but there was no independent confirmation.
Meanwhile, a fire broke out at a tent camp for Syrian refugees in southeastern Turkey, killing a pregnant Syrian woman and three of her children, Turkish officials said.
The fire was started by an electric heater in the family’s tent at a refugee camp in Ceylanpinar in Sanliurfa province near the border with Syria, the officials said. They said the fire had been extinguished.
The Ceylanpinar camp is one of some 15 camps in Turkey and is one of the largest, with more than 28,000 inhabitants.
More than 150,000 registered Syrian refugees are now living in camps in Turkey, with tens of thousands more living in towns and cities throughout the country. – (Reuters)