GAZIANTEP,
Turkey — The Islamic State claimed its first attack inside the Syrian
capital on Tuesday, asserting responsibility for a car bomb that
destroyed a police officers’ club and left several people dead and
dozens wounded.
The
bombing, witnesses and regional news reports said, struck Masaken
Barzeh, a neighborhood on the northern edge of the city that had been
largely secure and quiet. Within hours the Islamic State, using its
official media channels, said it had orchestrated the blast. The Islamic
State had said it was behind an assault last month on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine on the outskirts of the capital that left dozens dead.
The blast on Tuesday came amid government advances against insurgents in northern Syria,
a signal that even as the leadership goes on the offensive in some
parts of the country, government-controlled areas, including those
believed to be secure, remain vulnerable.
According
to a witness, a large explosion hit the officers’ club, which was
frequented by government troops as well as by allied fighters from the
Lebanese group Hezbollah. The witness also said the blast had blown out
the windows of his home, 100 yards away.
U.N. Urges Turkey to Let In All Refugees
William Spindler, a spokesman for the
United Nations high commissioner for refugees, urged Turkey to open its
border to let Syrian refugees in. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of
Turkey said the border had not been closed.
By REUTERS on Publish Date February 9, 2016.
Photo by Reuters.
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The
Islamic State said in a statement that the police officers’ club had
been the target of the bombing. The club is on a street with private
homes, adding to the risk that civilians could among the dead and
wounded. A resident of the neighborhod said that the blast went off
inside the parking area of the club.
No
official death toll was immediately available, but the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain that
has extensive contacts inside Syria, said that eight police officers had
been killed and about 20 wounded. Syrian state TV reported that at
least 10 people had been killed.
The
officers’ club was patrolled by officers of the political security
branch, protecting security officers who lived inside with their
families.
The witness said he had seen dozens of security officers aiding the victims, some of whom were taken away in private cars.
Graphic
How Syrians Are Dying
Over four years of war has forced more than four million
to flee the country, fueling a migrant crisis in the Middle East and
Europe.
Another
neighborhood resident, who was in a vegetable market about 300 years
away when the blast struck, said that parents were running to schools to
find their children and people were shouting in the streets, as
security officers fired in the air to clear the way for ambulances and
cars.
Residents
said that the club was not located inside the vegetable market, as had
been reported earlier by the Syrian Observatory .
The
blast was believed to be the most violent episode in the area since
insurgents under the banner of the Free Syrian Army reached a truce with
the Syrian government in nearby Barzeh about two years ago.
Under
the deal, the insurgents maintain security in the neighborhood and
maintain checkpoints at the entrance to the district, next to ones
controlled by the security forces.
Unlike
other local deals, which have been more lopsided — akin to surrenders
after long sieges — the insurgents in Barzeh had real leverage. They
were not besieged and were controlling a route that government forces
needed to reach a military hospital. But the Islamic State is not a
party to such deals, and it considers both the national government and
the Free Syrian Army to be enemies.
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