This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-civil-war-six-year-anniversary-suicide-bombing-damascus-palace-justice-terror-attacks-killed-a7630976.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Suicide bomber kills at least 25 at Palace of Justice in Damascus on sixth anniversary of Syrian civil war | Suicide bomber kills at least 25 at Palace of Justice in Damascus on sixth anniversary of Syrian civil war |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| At least 25 people have been killed in a suicide bombing at Damascus' Palace of Justice. | |
| The terror attack came on the sixth anniversary of the Syrian civil war, which has left an estimated 500,000 people dead and forced 7.6 million to flee their homes. | |
| Syrian media reports said a suicide bomber detonated his vest on Wednesday afternoon inside the capital’s main judicial building. | |
| Police said the militant set off the device as officers attempted to search him and prevent him from entering the building at 1.20pm local time (11.20am GMT). | |
| The explosion hit the courthouse “at a time when the area is crowded” with lawyers, judges and civilians, harming a large number of people, a legal official told the state-run Syrian News Channel. | |
| The Palace of Justice, which houses numerous courts, sits near the famous and crowded Hamidiyeh market in Damascus. | |
| It was latest in a spate of bombings and suicide attacks targeting government-controlled areas of Syria in recent weeks. | |
| Twin attacks killed at least 40 Iraqis in Damascus on Saturday, with the bombings claimed by Tahrir al-Sham. | |
| They targeted Shia Muslim pilgrims on their way to pray at a nearby shrine, with a propaganda statement hailing the death of "Iranian militias" supporting Bashar al-Assad. | |
| The Islamist alliance is led by the group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which has rebranded itself twice after claiming to have split from al-Qaeda last year. | |
| Tahrir al-Sham as carried out several suicide bombings, as well as an assault on a military compound in Homs. | |
| Isis has also launched terror attacks in government, rebel and Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria, as well as increasingly using car bombs to defend its shrinking territory. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's bombing. | |
| It came as the World Health Organisation warned that more than half of hospitals and public health centres in Syria had been forced to close or left partially functioning during the Syrian civil war. | |
| Almost two-thirds of healthcare workers have fled, said emergencies programme head Peter Salama, adding that resources were “stretched to the limit” by bombardment, security threats and a lack of access to medicine and equipment. | |
| He called for “systematic and unhindered access” for life-saving materials like vaccines and medical supplies “on this sad anniversary of the start of war in Syria and before more lives are lost”. |