Tunnel blast lightly damages Aleppo citadel

A tunnel explosion in the northern city of Aleppo lightly damaged the wall of its famous citadel Sunday, the latest archaeological site to be ravaged in Syria’s civil war, activists and state media say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the tunnel was dug by rebels before it was discovered by troops who detonated it. The Observatory says part of the sprawling citadel’s wall collapsed.

Aleppo-based activist Nazeer al-Khatib says about 2 meters (yards) of the wall collapsed. He says government forces control the citadel and that he had no information who caused Sunday’s blast.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA says “terrorists” blew up a tunnel, causing a wall of the citadel to collapse.

— AP