At least 22 killed in mortar attack on Latakia

The death toll from mortar fire Tuesday on Syria’s coastal city of Latakia has risen to 22, one of the bloodiest shellings there since the country’s war began, state media reported.

The toll rose to “22 people killed and 62 wounded” in the attack on eastern neighborhoods of the regime bastion, state television said.

Earlier, state news agency SANA had said 12 people died and 57 hurt when two mortar rounds struck residential neighborhoods.

Latakia lies in the heartland of the minority Alawite sect to which Syria’s ruling clan belongs and has been largely spared attacks during four and a half years of civil war.

Rebels and jihadists, including Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, have long targeted the region, in part for its symbolic value as a regime stronghold.

— AFP