Rebels Shell Orthodox Elementary School in Damascus, 9 Children Killed

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Damascus (AFP) - Nine children were killed and 27 people wounded when mortar rounds hit a school and a school bus in the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, state television reported.

"The toll in the terrorist targeting of the St. John of Damascus school with mortar rounds has risen to five dead, all of them children, and 27 injured," a news alert on Syrian state television said.

Another four students were killed when a mortar hit the vehicle they were in, in the central Bab Sharqi district of the capital, state news agency SANA said, adding that the driver was also killed.

Six others inside the bus, including four more students, were wounded in the "terrorist attack," SANA said.


The website of the school can be found here.

The Patriarchate has published the following pictures, here:

Also today, according to reports here, two mortars struck Holy Cross Church, the largest church in Damascus, and the Melkite Catholic Church of St Cyril.