Two blasts rocked Syria’s second largest city of Aleppo on Friday morning, killing at least 28 people and wounding 235 more, Syrian state TV reported citing data from the Health Ministry.
The blasts in Aleppo, which had been quiet amid the ongoing violent clashes between the government and protesters in other parts of the country, targeted the military intelligence building and a security forces center, the television reported.
Italian news agency AGI reported that the rebellious Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The agency quoted Riad al Asad, the FSA commander, as saying that the attacks were a response to the shelling of the Syrian city of Homs, a hotspot of the ongoing uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian Consul General in Aleppo Rashid Sadikov said the first explosion occurred at 9:00 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. GMT) and the second five minutes later.
There are no Russian citizens among the casualties and additional measures have been taken to protect the building of the Russian Consulate General’s Office, he said.
At least 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian government's 11-month crackdown on protesters, according to the UN. Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed gangs affiliated with al-Qaeda and say more than 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed.
