Mortar fire wounds 16 in Damascus

Rebel mortar fire on several government-held districts of the Syrian capital wounded at least 16 people on Tuesday, state media reported. "Mortar rounds fired by terrorists struck around Shallal Square in the Mazraa neighbourhood, wounding 10 people and damaging cars," the official SANA news agency said. A hardline Palestinian militant group allied to President Bashar al-Assad's government said five of its members were among those wounded in Mazraa. Mortar fire struck a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command office near the Central Bank of Syria, PFLP-GC spokesman Anwar Rajah said. Elsewhere in the capital, mortar fire wounded six people near a Red Crescent hospital and a market, SANA reported. The new casualties came a day after rebel mortar fire killed nine children and wounded more than 20 other people in two districts of the capital. The rounds hit a school and a school vehicle in two majority-Christian neighbourhoods, state media said. Government-held districts of central Damascus have come under repeated bombardment in recent months from rebel positions in the outskirts of the capital that repeated assaults by the army have failed to eliminate. Source: AFP