[QODLink]
Middle East
Many dead in Syria barracks blast
The authorities say the explosion that killed 15 soldiers is not a terrorist act.
Last Modified: 26 Jul 2007 10:33 GMT
The blast was at a military complex
near the city of Aleppo



An explosion, blamed on high temperatures, has torn through a military complex in northern Syria killing 15 soldiers and wounding 50 more.
 
A Syrian official said on Thursday: "There is a heatwave and temperatures reached close to 50C, which caused an ammunition dump to explode."
Syrian television said the explosion was "not a terrorist act". A firefighting official said the blast took place at 4:30am (01:30 GMT) and that the blaze had been extinguished.
 
The ordnance was at a barracks of an infantry school about 10km outside Aleppo.
 

"An ammunition dump exploded in a barracks at 4:30am (01:30 GMT).  There are deaths and casualties among soldiers," the official said.

One witness, who declined to be named, said: "The blast was huge. One hospital I went to was filled with injured personnel."

Most of the injured were treated on the spot from "minor wounds" caused by shattered glass.

An official at Aleppo University Hospital said the bodies of five dead soldiers and 10 wounded were brought to the facility.

Source:
Agencies
Featured on Al Jazeera
In the frozen peaks of Afghanistan's Kunar province, a ferocious clash for supremacy rages amid the mountaintops.
Indigenous community with "third world conditions" sits 90km from diamond mine, prompting fight for resource royalties.
There is a unique and dangerous commerce system at work in Amazonia, where children risk their lives for a few pennies.
Organisations that influence social, cultural and political issues in the US have been hijacked by the far right.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go