At least 48 people were killed and 90 wounded in a series of explosions in the center of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical sources.
State television said four blasts ripped through Aleppo's main Saadallah al-Jabiri Square and a fifth struck a few hundred meters away, on the fringes of the Old City where rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been fighting.
The British based Observatory and the Syrian state TV stated that most of the dead and injured in the blasts were regime soldiers, adding that the explosions targeted the Officers Club and a hotel. It later onstated that 16 casualties including children fell dead in clashes in the Hama province.
The Observatory pointed out that the blasts took place following clashes between the Officers Club's security guards and opposition fighters.
Meanwhile 5 people including a child were reportedly killed and at least nine others seriously wounded when a mortar bomb fired from Syria hit Turkey's southeastern border region of Akcakale on Wednesday, the local mayor told CNN Turk television.
A Reuters witness saw at least eight seriously wounded people being taken to hospital, three of them police officers.
Consequently, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu briefed international mediator on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday after a mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in southeastern Turkey, killing at least three people.
"The minister briefed U.N. and Arab League envoy Brahimi on the incident in a telephone call," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish Deputy PM Rrinc also said
there must be response within
International law to the
Syrian mortar bomb.
For his part, Ban Ki-Moon urged Turkey to keep
all channels of communication open with Syria to avoid tension over mortar bomb.
The city has seen intensified fighting between regime forces and rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad, after opposition fighters launched a new offensive last week.
International
position:
British
deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that Britain will donate 1 million pounds
(1.25 million euros) to help 10,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey cope with the
upcoming winter. This remark came during a meeting in Ankara with officials
from the Turkish Red Crescent.
Turkey's foreign minister contacted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday after a mortar bomb fired from Syria killed five people in southeastern Turkey, his ministry said in a statement.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Turkey's foreign minister on Wednesday he strongly condemned a mortar strike from Syria that killed five people in southeastern Turkey, a NATO spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said NATO continued to follow developments in the region "closely and with great concern".
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu earlier had contacted Rasmussen, who has said repeatedly that NATO has no intention of intervening in Syria but stood ready to defend NATO member Turkey, if necessary.
REUTERS/AP/LBCI
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