DAMASCUS: At least 22 people were killed in mortar fire Tuesday on Syria’s coastal city of Latakia, in one of the bloodiest shellings there since the country’s war began, state media reported.
The toll rose to “22 people killed and 62 wounded” in the attack on eastern neighbourhoods of the regime bastion, state television said.
Earlier, had said 12 people died and 57 were hurt when two mortar rounds struck residential neighbourhoods.
Latakia lies in the heartland of the minority Alawite sect to which Syria’s ruling clan belongs and has been largely spared attacks during four and a half years of civil war.
A rare car bombing in September killed 10 people and wounded dozens in Hamam Square in the provincial capital.
Rebels and jihadists, including Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, have long targeted the region, in part for its symbolic value as a regime stronghold.
According to a Syrian security source, Tuesday’s attack took place near Latakia’s Tishreen University, “where many students were gathered”.
Abir Selman, a 24-year old literature student at the university, said she was waiting for the bus when the mortars struck. “I saw blood everywhere and people running in every direction,” she told.
