3 suicide bombers strike at hotel in north Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Three suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts in a hotel in a predominantly Kurdish town in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, killing three people, the state-run news agency said.

The hotel in the center of Qamishli has functioned as a municipality building, according to a Kurdish official in the town, Joan Mohammed.

The area has been the scene of heavy battles recently between Kurdish gunmen and members of the al-Qaida breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said three people died in the attack on the Hadaya Hotel. It didn't provide further details.

Mohammed, the Kurdish official, said there were multiple casualties in the attack but that he didn't have exact figures.

He said several suicide attackers tried to storm the heavily-fortified building and blew themselves up. One of them was captured before he could blow himself up and was being questioned, he added.

"The building is in the center of the town and is usually very crowded," said Mohammad, adding that Kurdish fighters in the area were "on high alert" following the attack. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone from Qamishli.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Militants from the group have been fighting Kurdish gunmen for months in northern Syria in battles that left hundreds of people dead.

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up more than 10 percent of the country's 23 million people.

Also on Tuesday, the Syrian government acknowledged it had freed women prisoners in exchange for 13 Greek Orthodox nuns who had been held by al-Qaida-linked rebels. But Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government freed only 25 prisoners and not the 150 reported by foreign mediators.

"The real number of those who were freed in exchange for the release of the nuns, who were kidnapped by armed terrorist gangs, is 25 persons," he told Syrian state TV.

Qatari and Lebanese officials, who were mediating between Damascus and the rebels holding the nuns, said previously that 150 women prisoners were released early Monday.

Damascus typically does not comment on releases in exchange for people held by rebels. Al-Zoubi's remarks were a rare acknowledgement that President Bashar Assad's government made any concessions to the rebels fighting to oust him from power.

The nuns were captured in December as opposition fighters overran a Christian village, north of the capital.

The women were held by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front rebel group in Yabroud near the Syrian border with Lebanon. In recent weeks, the town has been the scene of fierce fighting as Syrian government troops, backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah militants, try to oust the rebels from the border area.

The Syrian conflict started as largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule in March 2011. Since then it has deteriorated into a civil war in which more than 140,000 people have been killed, activists say. Millions have fled their homes and sought shelter in safer parts of their homeland or in neighboring states.

According to a UNICEF report released on Tuesday, more than half of the 2 million Syrian refugees — about 1.2 million — are children. Nearly a half of those are under the age of five. Another 3 million children have been displaced inside Syria because of the fighting, the report said.

Children have been hit hard during the conflict, now entering its fourth year.

More than 10,000 children have been killed in the fighting, UNICEF said. Thousands have lost limbs, parents, teachers, schools, homes and virtually every aspect of their childhood, the report said.

____

Surk reported from Beirut. AP writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.