Web Desk
More than 120 people were killed and many injured in a series of bomb attacks in Syria today. Seventy-three people were killed in the city of Jableh and another forty eight died in Tartus in seven blasts.
Both cities are strongholds of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian state media also reported the attacks, but gave a total of seventy eight dead, forty five in Jableh and thirty three in Tartus. Islamic State militant group claimed the attacks.
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that four explosions had shaken the city of Jableh in the southern Latakia province, leaving more than 45 people dead and dozens of others injured.
Shortly afterward, the news agency reported, three violent blasts also shook the city of Tartus — located in the province of the same name — killing at least 20.
According to the new agency, the blasts in Tartus were the result of car-bombs and teams of suicide bombers, who had blown themselves up at targeted locations.
In a subsequent statement issued by Daesh, the group claimed responsibility for Monday’s rash of bombings. The bombings in Tartus were the largest in recent history to hit the city, which has enjoyed relative tranquility in recent years.
The bombings that shook Jableh, meanwhile, are considered the first of their kind since the start of the conflict in Syria more than five years ago.
*file photo