Mortar shells kill 14 in central Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A series of mortar shells slammed into central Damascus on Tuesday, killing 14 people and wounding scores, state media reported.

The attacks in the Syrian capital came a day after President Bashar Assad announced his candidacy for the June 3 presidential elections, a race he is likely to win amid a raging civil war that initially started as an uprising against his rule.

The official SANA news agency said a total of four shells struck the capital's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaghour in the morning hours. State TV said 14 people were killed and 86 were wounded.

An official at the Damascus Police Command told The Associated Press that two of the mortar shells landed near a religious school. Several students who were attending classes at the school were among those killed and wounded in the attack, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Syria's rebels have frequently fired mortars into the capital from opposition-held suburbs.

SANA blamed the attacks on terrorists — a term used by Assad's government for rebels fighting to oust him. Many of the opposition-held neighborhoods around Damascus have been under a crippling government blockade for months, with no food and medicine allowed to reach trapped civilians inside.

The Britain-based opposition activist group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the mortar attack, saying 17 people were killed. The group, which tracks the conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said the death toll was likely to rise because of the many wounded.

Earlier Tuesday, an international rights organization accused Assad's forces of indiscriminately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure with crude bombs in rebel-held districts of the northern city of Aleppo.

Human Rights Watch said its staff has documented 85 locations in Aleppo's opposition-held districts that government aircraft shelled with barrel bombs — makeshift, shrapnel-packed explosive devices rolled out of helicopters.

The New York-based group identified the locations after interviewing witnesses and analyzing satellite imagery and video and photographic evidence, the report said.

The attacks in Aleppo occurred between Feb. 22 and April 2, it said. The locations, identified by HRW, sustained damage that is "consistent with the detonation of barrel bombs," the report said.

The organization also said it has evidence that government forces fired hundreds of mortar and heavy artillery shells during those 40 days.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been carved up into rebel- and government-held neighborhoods since the opposition launched an offensive in the north in mid-2012.

Assad's forces have relied heavily on their airpower to regain control of territory captured by the rebels fighting to oust Assad. The air campaign on Aleppo has been relentless in the past months as government forces try to wrest as much of the city from the rebels before the June presidential vote.

"President Assad is talking about elections, but for Aleppo's residents, the only campaign they are witnessing is a military one of barrel bombs and indiscriminate shelling," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

HRW also criticized the opposition for firing mortars into populated residential areas. Rebel groups have insisted that government forces are behind most of the attacks that target residential areas and civilians.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council was meeting Wednesday to review whether Syria's warring sides are complying with a resolution demanding the cessation of the use of barrel bomb and other weapons in populated areas.

Meanwhile, four more candidates announced their candidacy for the June presidential election on Tuesday, state TV said, bringing the number of presidential hopefuls to 10.

Syria's opposition and its Western backers have blasted the decision to hold presidential elections amid the country's three-year conflict, which has killed more than 150,000 people and driven a third of the country's population from their homes.

Syria's foreign ministry rejected the criticism, saying the decision was "sovereign" and warned that "no foreign power will be allowed to intervene" in the process.

In Tehran, spokeswoman of Iran's Foreign Ministry Marzieh Afkham welcomed the elections, saying the vote will be "an opportunity for peace and stability" in Syria.

Iran has backed Assad throughout the conflict, providing his government with millions of dollars in economic aid and military support through its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

"We think the election is a step closer to ending the crisis, stopping the war and support for peace and stability in Syria," Afkham said.

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Surk reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi contributed to this report from Tehran.