Iraq condemns deadly attack on convoy of Syrian evacuees

BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) — Iraq on Sunday condemned the massive bomb attack on a convoy of buses evacuating some 5,000 civilians to government-controlled areas in Syria.

“Iraq expresses its strong condemnation for the criminal terrorist act that targeted innocent civilians evacuated from the Syrian towns of Kefraya and Foah,” the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“Iraq also calls on the international community to make this horrible crime, which has claimed the lives of dozens of children, women and the elderly, enough reason to show seriousness in solving the Syrian crisis peacefully and away from the pursuit of some countries to achieve their political interests,” the statement said.

The direct attack on innocent civilians by some armed parties in the Syrian conflict “requires a real international stand to curb those brutal groups and punish them,” the statement added.

At least 112 people were killed and 124 others wounded in a blast on Saturday targeting the gathering point of buses transporting Shiites evacuating from two pro-government towns in northern Syria.

The blast, carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck, rocked the rebel-held rural Rashideen area in Aleppo province.