41 Children Slain in Suicide Attack Outside Syrian School

Blasts Targeted Alawite Neighborhood

A pair of bombings carried out by a single suicide attack tore through a primary school in the Syrian city of Homs today, killing 48 people including 41 schoolchildren.

The attacks took place at the end of the school day, and appear to have been timed to hit the crowd of children leaving class. In addition to the slain, 56 others were reported wounded.

So far, no specific rebel faction has claimed responsibility for the attack, though the most likely suspects would be ISIS or Jabhat al-Nusra, which have both regularly used suicide attacks.

The school in Homs is in the middle of an Alawite neighborhood. An offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, the Alawites are of the same sect as President Bashar Assad, and have often been the targets of rebel attacks.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.