‘Dozens’ killed in Syrian air raid on bakery

By ERIKA SOLOMON
Published on 24/12/2012 00:00

DOZENS of people were killed and many more wounded in a Syrian government air strike that hit a bakery yesterday, activists said.

If confirmed, the attack on Halfaya in central Syria, which was seized by rebels last week, would be one of the deadliest air strikes of Syria’s civil war.

Videos uploaded by activists showed dozens of bloodstained corpses lying amid rubble and shrapnel. “When I got there, I could see piles of bodies all over the ground. There were women and children,” said Samer al-Hamawi, an activist in the town. “There are also dozens of wounded people.”

Rami Abdelrahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: “From looking at the videos, I expect the death toll to be around or above 50, and not higher than 100.”

Activists say more than 44,000 people have been killed in the 21 months since protests erupted against president Bashar al-Assad.