Death toll from Aleppo university explosions rises to 82

At least 82 people were killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday in two explosions that rocked the university in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.   

Two explosions hit the university during the day while students were sitting exams. The cause of the explosions was not clear but the government and opposition activists blamed each other.   

The Observatory said in a statement that its death toll was based on reports from doctors and students.An explosion rocked the University of Aleppo in Syria's second largest city on Tuesday, causing casualties, state television said.   

Earlier, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mokdad said on Tuesday that no candidate may be excluded from running for presidency and added that President Bashar Assad has the right to be a candidate in 2014.                 

Speaking to the  BBC, Mokdad said that voting polls will determine the future of the Syrian leadership.

This as, Syrian PM Wael al-Halaqi arrives in Tehran whereby he will be holding talks on bilateral relations and the peace plan proposed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Separately, Permanent U.N. Security Council member Russia said in a Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday that an effort by dozens of countries to refer the Syrian crisis to the International Criminal Court was "ill-timed and counterproductive".   

More than 50 countries asked the Security Council on Monday to refer the crisis in Syria to the court, which prosecutes people for genocide and war crimes.


LBCI/REUTERS