Two individuals have been reportedly murdered while 12 were left injured on Sunday by an unannounced bombardment of a church as it was being inaugurated in Syria’s central province of Hama.
“A rocket fired by terrorist organisations targeted a religious gathering in the town of Al-Suqaylabiyah near Hama, killing two people and wounding 12,” it said.
SANA had also revealed that the attack came during a ceremony to inaugurate the Ayia Sofia church. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a vast network of sources on the ground had confirmed the attack.
Giving a toll of one civilian killed and several wounded, the Observatory hahatd reported shelling or a drone attack by nearby rebel groups could be to blame for the deaths.
Sunday’s attack came two days after bombardment killed seven people including four children in the rebel-held Idlib region.
In another report, no fewer than eleven people were killed and dozens left wounded when their pick-up truck ran over a landmine near Syria’s southern city of Daraa, a war monitor disclosed on Sunday.
‘Eleven people, including five children under 16 and three women, were killed and around 34 people were injured’ in the explosion, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that some were in critical condition.
Most of the victims were labourers harvesting wheat, Syria’s official SANA news agency disclosed.
The latest toll brings to 124 the total number of people killed by explosive remnants since the beginning of 2022, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources in Syria.
Explosives left by all sides in fields, along roads or even in buildings in Syria’s decade-long conflict have wounded thousands of civilians and killed hundreds of others.
Across the country, about half the population is estimated to be living in areas contaminated by unexploded ordnance, according to the United Nations.
