Displaying items by tag: 100 killed

Over a hundred people, including ten civilians, were killed and another 125 were injured when drones carrying explosives targeted a graduation ceremony at a military academy in Homs. The army blamed ‘terrorist groups backed by known international forces’, and said it would respond with full force and determination against these terrorist groups ‘wherever they are’. There was no immediate claim from the rebels and jihadists battling the government in the country's civil war. The attack is believed to have been launched from opposition-held areas north-west of Homs. An eye-witness said, ‘After the ceremony, people went down to the courtyard and the explosives hit. We don't know where it came from, and corpses littered the ground.’ Syria's defence minister attended the graduation ceremony, but left minutes before the attack.

Recently three huge blasts and a series of smaller explosions from a military base damaged or destroyed almost all homes and buildings in Bata, a city of over 250,000 people. The first explosion was so big that people were shouting ‘This is a bomb, this is a bomb!’ UN satellite images suggest at least 243 structures were completely destroyed and nearby buildings severely damaged, with scorched vegetation. Pray for the residents of Bata trying to come to grips with the full scale of a disaster that killed at least 105 people and injured over 600. 482 people have been discharged from hospitals but many remain untreated. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Pray for aid to be released to the homeless who once lived in the destroyed blocks of housing. The devastation was caused by poorly-managed stores of explosives. But no matter the cause, the road to recovery will be long and daunting.