Syria conflict: Deadly blasts rip through Aleppo square

Many buildings around Saadallah al-Jabari Square had their facades ripped off

At least 27 people have been killed and dozens wounded by five bomb explosions in the centre of Syria's second city, Aleppo, officials have said.

Four of the blasts happened in the city's Saadallah al-Jabari Square, near a military officers' club and a hotel.
Pro-government al-Ikhbariya TV broadcast pictures of bodies being pulled out of buildings damaged by the blasts and large crater in a road.
Government forces have been fighting rebels for weeks for control of Aleppo.
Rebel fighters launched a new offensive last week to try to seize more districts and fires over the weekend gutted the historic central souk.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV and the pro-Syrian government Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar, both reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had ordered thousands more troops sent to Aleppo to finish the battle against the rebels there.

Deadliest bombings

• December 2011, Damascus: Car bombs outside intelligence agency buildings leave 44 dead
• January 2012, Damascus: Explosion at intersection kills 25 people
• February 2012, Aleppo: Twin suicide bombings target security compounds, killing 28 people
• March 2012, Damascus: Blasts kill 27 people near intelligence and security buildings
• May 2012, Damascus: Twin car bombings outside military intelligence building kill 55 people
• July 2012, Damascus: Blast at National Security Bureau HQ kills four senior security officials
• October 2012, Aleppo: Three bombs explode in Saadallah al-Jabari Square, killing 27 people

Casualty reports come from officials and state media and are not verified

Al-Diyar said Mr Assad was flown to Aleppo by helicopter and was personally directing the campaign, thought that has not been confirmed.

'Car bombs' State and pro-government media reported that at least two of the four blasts in Saadallah al-Jabari Square on Wednesday morning were car bombs. The fifth reportedly struck a few hundred metres away, on the edge of the Old City.
Video footage they broadcast showed that many of the multi-storey buildings surrounding the square had had their facades ripped off.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said the blasts had occurred near the city's Officers Club. Al-Manar said the third bomb had targeted City Hall and the al-Amir hotel.
Officials said the death toll might rise and the Syrian Observatory cited medical sources as saying that at least 40 people had died.
State TV described the explosions as the work of "terrorists".
The government says scores of people have died in a series of "terrorist" bombings in Syria's main cities, many of them targeting security facilities, since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.
Opposition activists, however, maintain that the security forces planted the bombs to discredit both the rebels and the peaceful protesters.
Analysts say this is not beyond the realms of possibility, but that radical Islamist militants are known to be operating in Syria.