Almost 150 killed on first day of Syria truce—watchdog

In this image released by the Syrian official news agency SANA , a crowd gather beneath the shattered facade of a building damaged by a car bomb in Damasus, Syria Friday Oct 26 2012. The blast in a residential area of Damascus, near a housing complex for police, killed five people and wounded more than 30, state TV said. A shaky holiday truce was marred by sporadic fighting and two car bombs Friday but gave war-battered Syrians a brief respite, allowing thousands of protesters to pour out of mosques to demand President Bashar Assad’s ouster. AP

BEIRUT—Almost 150 people died on the first day of a barely-observed truce between the warring parties in Syria, a watchdog said, adding that a fresh clashes on Saturday claimed more lives.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said of the 146 people killed in bombings, artillery fire and fighting on Friday, 53 were civilians, 50 were rebels and 43 were members of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

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