03/04/2014 18:47
Mortar fire kills 6 near Damascus
Mortar fire killed at least six people in a suburb of the Syrian capital Thursday, activists and state media said, amid reports that clashes in a coastal province killed a top foreign fighter who was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, The Associated Press reported.
Syria’s state news agency said four mortar rounds slammed into Harasta, a district northwest of Damascus, killing six children and wounding five more. Another five people were wounded when a mortar struck the upscale central neighborhood of Maliki, the agency said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shells also struck central Damascus, including Ummayad Square, which is close to the state TV and radio stations, as well as the army command. It said there were no casualties.
The mortar fire came as activists reported heavy clashes and air raids in the Damascus suburb of Mleiha, as well as the capital’s Jobar neighborhood. Both areas are controlled by the rebels.
Also Thursday, private Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen and Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar said Syrian troops killed a Moroccan militant once detained at the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay prison. The stations described him as the chief of the hard-line Sham al-Islam Movement.