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Syria conflict: Huge blast 'destroys Aleppo hotel' Syria conflict: Huge blast 'destroys Aleppo hotel'
(35 minutes later)
A large explosion in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has destroyed a hotel and several other buildings, state media and activists report.A large explosion in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has destroyed a hotel and several other buildings, state media and activists report.
Rebel fighters are believed to have detonated a bomb placed in a tunnel beneath the Carlton Citadel Hotel, near the city's ancient citadel and souk. Rebel fighters are believed to have detonated a bomb placed in a tunnel beneath the Carlton Citadel Hotel, near the city's medieval citadel and souk.
Opposition activists said that government troops were based there. Opposition activists said that government troops were based there and that a number had been killed.
In recent weeks rebels have been trying to advance on areas of Aleppo where government forces are entrenched. Both sides have been trying to end a long-standing stalemate in the city.
In recent weeks, rebels have been trying to advance on areas where government forces are entrenched, while rebel-held areas of Aleppo have come under fierce aerial bombardment since mid-December.
'Archaeological sites'
The state news agency, Sana, reported that "terrorists" had blown up tunnels they had dug underneath archaeological sites in the Old City.
Preliminary reports said the hotel had suffered "huge damage", it added, without saying if there had been any casualties.
The Carlton Citadel is situated inside a 150-year-old building that faces the entrance of the 13th-Century citadel, which along with the rest of the Old City is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, and the opposition Sham News Network (SNN) said is was being used by government forces.
The detonation of a large quantity of explosives placed in the tunnel by an Islamist rebel brigade had destroyed the hotel and caused the collapse of several nearby buildings, the Observatory said.
A number of security forces personnel and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were believed to have been killed, it added.