BEIRUT: A suicide assault on two security service bases in Syria’s third city of Homs killed dozens of people, including a top intelligence chief, on Saturday, overshadowing peace talks in Geneva. Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front claimed the spectacular attack which targeted and killed General Hassan Daabul, a close confidant of President Bashar al-Assad. State television confirmed Daabul’s death, saying that the general had been specifically targeted by one of the suicide bombers. The Homs attack came after IS claimed a Friday suicide bombing that the Observatory said killed 83 people including 45 civilians outside the northern town of Al-Bab, which Turkish-backed rebels said this week they had taken from the jihadists. Separately, two Turkish soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Al-Bab on Friday as they were carrying out road checks.

Source: Manila Times February 25, 2017 23:03 UTC