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    Syria TV: 25 killed, 175 wounded in Aleppo blasts

    BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state television says 25 people were killed and 175 wounded in two explosions that targeted security compounds in the northern city of Aleppo.

    The station is blaming "terrorists" for Friday's blasts, touting the regime line that armed groups looking to destabilize Syria are behind the uprising.

    Opposition activists accused President Bashar Assad's regime of setting off the explosions.

    The blasts were the first significant violence in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, which has largely stood by President Bashar Assad during the nearly 11-month-old uprising against his rule.

    The TV cites the Health Ministry in giving the casualty figures.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

    BEIRUT (AP) — Two explosions targeted security compounds in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday, state media said, causing an unspecified number of casualties in a major city seen as key to President Bashar Assad's grip on power.

    A weeping television presenter on state-run TV showed graphic footage of at least five corpses, saying the blasts went off near a public garden where children had been playing. Debris filled the street and residential buildings appeared to have their windows shattered.

    No emergency vehicles or ambulances were visible in the footage, and earth-moving equipment was seen clearing the rubble. The location did not appear to be closed off, as local residents milled around the site.

    "Civilians and members of the military were martyred and wounded in the terrorist explosions that targeted Aleppo," the TV reported. It added that the targets of the blasts were a compound of the Military Security Directorate and another of the police force.

    The blasts were the first in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, which has been relatively quiet since the uprising against Assad's regime erupted in March. Aleppo, which is close to the Turkish border, is an economic powerhouses.

    The state TV presenter Friday said the weather was sunny and warm in Aleppo and many people were having breakfast in the public garden near the military compound when the explosion happened.

    Some children were killed in the blast, he said, and held up a roller blade in his hand.

    On Jan. 6, a suicide attack in the capital Damascus killed 26 people. Two weeks earlier 44 people were killed in a twin suicide bombings that targeted intelligence agency compounds in Damascus.

    Assad's crackdown has killed more than 5,400 people since the uprising began in March.

    The government blames the unrest on a foreign conspiracy by Israel and the West. It says armed gangs and terrorists are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking democratic change.

    ___

    Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue

     

    67 comments

    • Joseph  •  Pennsauken, New Jersey  •  3 mths ago
      Americas biggest industry is providing arms and weapons so that people can kill people.
    • Tears of Technology  •  New Orleans, Louisiana  •  3 mths ago
      I think if this was to occur in America, even though our govt speaks out against this type of thing, they would be doing the same thing. Calling the rebels "homegrown terrorists" or "enemy combatants". The laws already exists to deal with such uprisings. Google NDAA.....
    • L  •  3 mths ago
      The Pentagon has drawn up plans for military intervention in Syria.

      A military strike would be coordinated with Turkey, the Gulf States and the NATO powers, according to reports that acknowledge such plans officially for the first time. The plan is described as an “internal review” by Pentagon Central Command, to allow President Barack Obama to maintain the pretense that the White House is still seeking a diplomatic solution.

      This is considered vital, as military intervention would most likely be conducted through various Middle East proxies, which the US and NATO could then back with airpower. Turkey and the Arab League states, led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, do not want to be seen for what they are: stooges of the US. Deniability for them therefore requires the US to conceal the full extent of its involvement.

      In the February 6 Financial Times, Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning for the US State Department, argued for “A little time… for continued diplomatic efforts aimed at shifting the allegiances of the Sunni merchant class in Damascus and Aleppo.”
    • Zalfa  •  Beirut, Lebanon  •  3 mths ago
      Outright accusations to government by activists shows what a standard of opposition the West is wagering on.
    • Anthony  •  New York, New York  •  3 mths ago
      Those Democracy loving Western and Gulf back terrorist doing what they do best, kill and cause chaos.
    • Jack  •  3 mths ago
      The peace loving freedom fighters have explosives? Not possible according to previous AP reporting.
    • GW  •  3 mths ago
      Before we pass judgement on another nation we have to consider what the US would do if for example an anti-government group were to take over Oakland. Our government would have our troops squash it as fast as they could. If the rebels in Syria are getting support from another country, that just makes the matter worse. The US should stay out of this conflict and fix our issues at home.
    • The Fool on The Hill  •  3 mths ago
      Same old paranoia, conspiracy theories, racism, hatred, and Jew baiting. Small minds and limited intellects abound as usual. A logical discussion of the issues seems to be out of the realm of possibility, only bile and name calling without facts to back up your comments.
    • Joseph  •  3 mths ago
      Please translate this headline to Russian and Chinese. It might just make sense!!
    • OH YEA  •  Wimauma, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      They need more practice in shelling thr town , the Mosque is still standing. Civil war not America's business.
      • Judge Roy Bean 3 mths ago
        Firebomb them muslims!
      • Vladimir 3 mths ago
        Except it's the USA special forces who direct these attacks
    • Bix  •  3 mths ago
      Anyone remember Beirut? In the Lebanon Civil War about 60,000 people died in the first two years of the war (1975–1976), and much of the city was devastated.
      • A Yahoo! User 3 mths ago
        The difference is That Syria's Army and intelligence services have not been divided. This will end with the death of all the terrorists, in April-May.
      • Bix 3 mths ago
        That makes no difference, war is war, innocent people get killed, regardless of any differences, regardless of any reasons.
    • BPatMan  •  3 mths ago
      Israel should trust its Muslim neighbors in any sort of peace deal. Not when this kind of internal barbarity is the norm.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Buffalo, Wyoming  •  3 mths ago
      No comment. Put this comment with the other comment.Lol
    • Robert  •  D'Hanis, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      The CIA and the Mossad are providing agent-provacateurs in Syria to "stir" the pot as they did in Libya....everyone I know recognizes that fact. This is shameful, illegal, unconstitutional on our part. Our republic has faded and our empire is expanding...we have over 900 military bases in over 100 nations. It's way past time that we stop this "power-politics" meddling, and learn to trade with other nations instead of bombing them and violating their airspace with Predators. Ike was right...the military/industrial/security complex is running our nation's foreign policy in tandem with Israel. I'd rather see goods and services cross borders instead of armies.
    • L  •  3 mths ago
      The appalling consequences of an American war against Syria would dwarf those of its Libyan adventure. Syria is only the ante-chamber of a campaign for regime change in Iran and its targeting poses ever more clearly conflict with Russia and possibly China.

      Moscow last month sent three warships, including an aircraft carrier, to its only Mediterranean naval base, the Syrian port of Tartus. This followed its blocking of the US, France and UK-backed Arab-League resolution, meant to pave the way for intervention, with the dispatch of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Damascus for talks with Assad, Tuesday, in a further show of solidarity. Lavrov was accompanied by Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Office.

      Of greater significance still were comments made the following day by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, linking efforts to overthrow Assad with a direct Western threat to the stability of Russia through its support for opposition protests there. “A cult of violence has been coming to the fore in international affairs in the past decade,” he said. “This cannot fail to cause concern... and we must not allow anything like this in our country.”
    • Sneaky  •  Canton, Michigan  •  3 mths ago
      25 killed, they are now good muslims........
    • Ian  •  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  •  3 mths ago
      If Americans don't take their country back from Zionism and stop this madness, Russia and China will unite and do it for us. the US needs to dump Israel and stop funding these terrorists in Syria.
    • L  •  3 mths ago
      Writing in the February 9 New Republic, Soner Cagaptay argues, “Washington’s reluctance to lead an operation may prove a blessing, leaving space for Turkey to take the reins… Turkey would support an air-based intervention to protect UN designated safe havens—as long as the mission is led by a ‘regional force,’ composed of both Turkish and Arab militaries. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who are funding the opposition, should be happy to work with their new ally in Ankara to protect the safe havens; Washington and European powers could then remotely back the operation, facilitating its success.”

      The aim of isolating Iran has become the stated aim of US and Israeli officials, backed by a media campaign prominently involving the liberal press, mixing anti-Iranian sentiment with humanitarian hyperbole professing concern with the fate of Syria’s people.
    • Judge Roy Bean  •  3 mths ago
      "25 Muslims killed and 175 Muslims wounded", can't we do any better than that?
    • Jonathan  •  Rockford, Illinois  •  3 mths ago
      Hold on... I'm reading these comments and I'm hoping these are just the early morning conspiracy nuts. There's no terrorist supported mystery here. It's obvious ASSAD DID THIS! It's standard procedure for a guy like him in a situation like his. He needs to reverse the World's opinion of him because one cannot survive on China and Russia alone. He is screwed. If me manages to make it out of this alive... somehow... He has made a grave error killing so many of his own people. They don't just forget that and move on with there lives.
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