The UN Children’s Fund has condemned the killing of more than 60 children in a recent Aleppo bomb attack targeting evacuees.
“After six years of war and human carnage in Syria… six years of heartbreak for so many Syrian families… there comes a new horror that must break the heart of anyone who has one,” the statement by UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said Sunday.
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“More than 60 children reportedly killed in an attack on a bus convoy yesterday outside Aleppo. A convoy of families who for so long had already known so much suffering. Now the survivors must bear such a new and terrible loss,” the statement added.
Lake urged not only for regret, but for action to ensure that the war ends soon, saying, “We must draw from this not only anger, but renewed determination to reach all the innocent children throughout Syria with help and comfort. And draw from it also the hope that all those with the heart and the power to end this war will do so.”
While Syrian state media reported up to 40 fatalities on the day of the blast, on Monday the toll rose to 125 people killed, according to local human rights groups. The attack came at the same time as the Syrian government was carrying out the internationally-brokered evacuation of two towns.
“This is one of the worst, most horrifying massacres. We urge our president Assad to help us out. What happened can’t be described. Oh, dear God! We don’t know what to do,” a woman outside an Aleppo hospital told Ruptly on Saturday.
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO, WATCH AT YOUR DISCRETION
The reason that there were so many children among the victims is that the blast happened at the moment when children were gathering around a van distributing potato chips, according to RT’s Lizzie Phelan.
The evacuation was continued soon after the attack, for which no one has yet claimed responsibility.
