Syria: 89 killed, hundreds injured in drone strike on graduation ceremony at military academy
Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A drone attack on cadets and their families attending a graduation ceremony at a military school in the Syrian city of Homs killed at least 89 people and injured 277, authorities said.
State-run media citing the Health Ministry said 31 women and five children were among those killed in the "terrorist' strike Thursday on the ceremony at the military academy in Homs, about 100 miles north of the capital, Damascus.
The drones carrying explosives are believed to have been launched from rebel and jihadist-controlled areas to the northwest of the city, although no group has claimed responsibility.
The Syrian government blamed the attack on "U.S.-occupation-backed terror groups" saying it was part of a bloody campaign to destabilize the country.
"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns, in the strongest terms, this heinous crime which shows that the perpetrators have gone far beyond in their bloody methods from which the Syrian people have suffered for many years," said the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry.
Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas narrowly escaped being caught in the attack, leaving the academy just minutes before the drones struck.
The United Nations said it deplored the loss of life in Homs and urged all sides in the 12-year-long civil war to show restraint.
Thursday's "horrific" scenes were a reminder of the need to immediately de-escalate violence, towards a national cease-fire and a joined-up effort to counter Security Council-listed terrorist groups, in line with Security Council resolutions, said U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen.
"All sides must respect their obligations under international law and ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure," said Pedersen.
Pedersen added that the incident further underscored that the state affairs in Syria was not sustainable and that, in the absence of a meaningful path to a political solution, the situation would only deteriorate.
The Homs attack came hours after an American F-16 fighter shot down a drone of fellow NATO member Turkey in a north-eastern region of Syria held by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, after the attack UAV flew within a few hundred yards of the United States' Tal Baydar military base.
The engagement in Al-Hasaka province occurred as Turkish forces struck civil installations and oil facilities and multiple other targets killing at least nine people on Thursday in apparent retaliation for a bomb attack in Turkey's capital, Ankara, on Sunday.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, claimed responsibility. The group has been engaged in a decades-long fight for autonomy for the country's Kurdish population who make up 15-20% of Turkey's population of 85 million, mainly in the country's southeast.
