Scores Killed as Airstrike Slams Syrian Bakery

Rebels Claim Over 100 Killed in Attack

Scores of people have been reported killed today when a government airstrike slammed into a bakery in the Hama Province of Syria, with rebels saying that at least 109 have been confirmed killed, and others reporting 60-70 dead and dozens wounded.

The bakery was in the town of Halfaya, captured in the middle of last week in a rebel offensive and contested by the regime since them. Relative calm yesterday had allowed flour to arrive in the town’s three bakeries, the first chance many in the town had to buy food since the recent siege began.

Syrian state media claimed there was no airstrike at all, insisting that an unnamed “armed terrorist group” had suicide bombed the bakery and filmed the ensuing chaos to frame them.

Locals at the site say that the attack appeared to be launched by a MiG fighter, and said that a large number of the casualties were women and children.

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.