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March 13, 2017

Syria: Suicide Bomb Blasts Hit Iraqi Pilgrims in Damascus, Killing 74
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In Syria, a pair of suicide bomb blasts tore through buses transporting
Iraqis to a cemetery near Damascus Saturday, killing at least 74 people
and injuring scores of others. Most of the dead were Shia pilgrims. A
Sunni rebel alliance called the Fatah al-Sham Front, which was formerly
allied with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility. The violence came as the
United Nations Children's Fund reported 2016 was the worst year yet in
Syria's 6-year-old civil war. UNICEF found child deaths jumped at least
20 percent over the prior year, while the rate of child conscription
doubled.


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