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Al-Qaida Affiliate Claims Deadly Suicide Bombings in Homs, Syria

By VOA News February 25, 2017

Twin suicide attacks Saturday in the western Syrian city of Homs killed at least 42 people, including a senior intelligence officer.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several attackers had blown themselves up near the headquarters of both state security and military intelligence.

An al-Qaida affiliate claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying five of its militants had stormed two heavily guarded districts in the center of Homs.

The city has been under full government control for nearly three years.

Bashar al-Ja'afari, a Syrian government negotiator, told reporters he thought the attack was meant to disrupt peace talks underway in Geneva.

"The terrorist explosions that hit Homs city are a message to Geneva from sponsors of terrorism, and we tell everyone that the message is received and this crime won't pass unnoticed," he said.

Peace talks

Ja'afari met Saturday with U.N. envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura in Geneva. De Mistura told reporters before the meeting that he hoped the attacks would not affect the peace process, calling them "spoilers" to peace.

"Every time we are having talks or negotiations, there is always someone who tries to spoil. We were expecting that," he said.

Following the meeting, Ja'afari demanded that opposition group negotiators denounce the attacks as a testament to their commitment to the peace process.

"Any party who refuses to condemn these attacks today, we will consider that party to be an accomplice of terrorism," he said.

On Friday in northern Syria, two suicide car bombings killed at least 65 people, including many civilians, rebel fighters and at least two Turkish soldiers, according to local media and Turkish officials.

The attacks near al-Bab came one day after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took much of the strategic town from Islamic State (IS) fighters.

The first blast Friday struck an opposition security post in the village of Sousian, killing many civilians along with opposition forces and the two Turkish soldiers.

People had gathered at the security office to seek permission to return to al-Bab, which had been the scene of heavy fighting for months.

The second attack came as local residents and rescue teams were retrieving bodies of those killed in the earlier bomb attack, reports said.

IS claimed responsibility for the first attack in al-Bab, saying it had killed eight Turkish soldiers and 60 rebel fighters, according to the pro-IS Amaq news agency.