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Syria universities shut down, Aleppo blast toll reaches 87AFP DAMASCUS--Universities were closed across Syria on Wednesday to mark a day of mourning called after twin blasts tore through an Aleppo campus while students were writing exams, killing at least 87 people.
January 17, 2013, 12:03 am TWN The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned that the toll from Tuesday's blasts in Syria's war-ravaged northern commercial capital could rise beyond 100, making it one of the bloodiest attacks in Syria's 22-month conflict. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the government and rebels have blamed each other. Opposition activists said government jets had carried out an airstrike on the campus, but a military official said ground-to-air missiles fired by rebels had fallen short. State television said “terrorists launched two rockets” at the campus. The university lies in a government-controlled area of the battleground northern city, which has been wracked by violence since last summer when regime forces launched an offensive to halt a rebel advance. The Local Coordination Committees, a network of grassroots activists, said the timing of the attack showed that the blasts were “part of a systematic plan to inflict as many casualties as possible in the university. The Observatory on Wednesday updated its earlier toll of 82 people dead.
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