BEIRUT (AP) — What was once a luxurious hotel in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo is now in ruins, after a bombing that targeted Syrian troops.
Rebels are claiming to be responsible for the bombing of the hotel, which had been used as a military base by government troops. Activists say at least 14 soldiers were killed, while the rebel group that says it carried out the attack is claiming to have killed 50 soldiers.
Aleppo is Syria’s largest city and once was the country’s commercial hub. It’s now divided between rebel and government forces. The Carlton Hotel was in a government-held area on the edge of a contested neighborhood.
This was the second attack by rebels against the hotel. The first caused a partial collapse of the building in February.
Like that attack, the one today was apparently carried out by tunneling under the building and planting explosives.
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138-c-10-(Barbara Surk (soork), AP correspondent)-“and detonating it”-AP correspondent Barbara Surk reports that the Syrian opposition says that explosives had been planted below the hotel. (8 May 2014)
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137-c-14-(Barbara Surk (soork), AP correspondent)-“in the blast”-AP correspondent Barbara Surk reports that an alliance of rebel groups says it carried out the attack on the hotel, killing dozens of government troops. (8 May 2014)
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APPHOTO CAI104: This image made from amateur video posted by Shaam News Network (SNN), an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows an explosion that destroyed the Carlton Hotel in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, May 8, 2014. The rebel-claimed bombing Thursday in the northern Syrian city leveled the once luxurious hotel near the ancient Citadel that government troops used as a military base, causing multiple casualties, activists and militants said.(AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) (8 May 2014)
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