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At least 100 people, including children, have been killed in a suicide bombing near Aleppo that struck a bus convoy evacuating people from besieged villages, after a deal between Syria's warring sides stalled.
Key points:
- Suicide bomber blew himself up near buses full of evacuated villagers waiting to cross into Aleppo
- Plan was for people from two Shiite villages to move into Government-controlled Aleppo while Sunnis in Madaya were to be transported to rebel-held Idlib
- White Helmets report pulling 100 bodies from the rubble, including children
Two buses had been waiting to cross from rebel-besieged territory into the Government-controlled city itself, carrying people evacuated from two Shiite villages on Friday.
Under a swap deal brokered by Iran and Qatar, the residents from al-Foua and Kfraya were being moved into Aleppo in exchange for the relocation of hundreds of Sunni insurgents and their families from the Government-besieged area near Damascus.
But a delay in the agreement had left those thousands of people evacuated stuck at two transit points on Aleppo's outskirts since late on Friday.
A suicide bomber blew himself up near the coaches.
The explosion shattered the buses and set cars on fire, leaving a trail of bodies. Hundreds of people are said to have been injured.
The Syrian Civil Defence in Aleppo province, also known as the White Helmets, said their volunteers pulled at least 100 bodies from the site of the explosion.
White Helmets member Ibrahim Alhaj said the 100 fatalities documented by the rescuers included many children and women, as well as fighters.
Syrian state media said at least 39 were killed, including children. Monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 43, adding that it would likely rise because of the extensive damage.
Rebels condemn 'cowardly' attack
A Facebook page belonging to the pro-government al-Foua and Kfraya villages said all those in three buses were killed or were still missing, while a rebel official said at least 30 opposition fighters who were guarding the evacuees were killed in the blast.
Major Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, the main negotiator with the Government on the evacuation deal, released a statement condemning the "cowardly" attack.
Ahrar al-Sham said the attack only served to defame the rebels and to deflect from the government's "crimes" against opposition-held areas, the latest being the chemical attack where over 80 people were killed.
The group says it is starting a probe into the cause of the attack, and said it is ready to cooperate with an international investigation to determine who carried it out.
It was unclear who carried out Saturday's bombing attack. The exact reasons for the delay in completing the evacuation deal were also unclear.
The rebels and residents of Madaya near Damascus were waiting at the Government-held Ramousah bus garage, a few kilometres away.
They were to be transported to Idlib province, which the armed opposition controls.
The incident underscored the difficulty carrying out any agreement between warring sides in a volatile and complex Syrian conflict which, in its seventh year, shows no signs of easing.
Population transfer resumed
Early on Saturday evening — several hours after the blast — Syrian media and the Observatory reported that the population transfer had resumed.
Al-Ikhbariya TV said 48 wounded were transported in exchange for allowing five buses of residents from opposition areas to head towards rebel-controlled territory.
The transfer agreement is one of several over recent months that has seen President Bashar al-Assad's Government take back control of areas long besieged by his forces and their allies.
The Observatory said the initial delay was because the rebels from Zabadani, another town near Damascus included in the deal, had not yet been granted safe passage out.
A pro-opposition activist said insurgents blamed the delay partly on the fact that a smaller number of pro-government fighters had left the Shiite villages than was agreed.
Syria's opposition had said the evacuation deals, which have included areas of Aleppo and a district in the western city of Homs, amount to forced displacement of Mr Assad's opponents from Syria's main urban centres.
The agreements are also causing demographic changes, they say, because those who are displaced are mostly Sunni Muslims, while Mr Assad is from the Alawite religious minority, often considered an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
ABC/wires
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, syrian-arab-republic
First posted