Explosion at Syrian university
January 15, 2013
More than 80 people were killed and at least 160 wounded Tuesday in an explosion at the University of Aleppo, state media reported Governor Mohammed Waheed Akaad as saying.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group with close links to the rebels in the Syrian conflict, also reported that over 80 people were killed in the attack.
The Observatory reported eye-witness accounts of an explosion that went off in an area between the university dormitories and the architecture department.
The university campus is located in a part of Aleppo controlled by the Syrian armed forces.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but both the rebels and the military have blamed each other.
Syrian state television has also reported the blast, stating an unspecified number of victims.
Calling for UN action
According to the United Nations, the fighting has already claimed over 60,000 lives since it began more than 22 months ago.
Meanwhile, over 50 governments have called on the UN Security Council to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes, which have allegedly been committed by both sides in the conflict.
The signatories included many European governments as well as Libya and Tunisia.
But the Council is unlikely to support the move. It is deeply divided over Syria.
Permanent Security Council members China, Russia and the United States are not members of the ICC and have already indicated they would not sign the petition.
rg/dr (Reuters, dpa)
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