Suicide attacks in Syria kill at least 220 people

The aftermath of a suicide attack in Syria.
(Image credit: SANA via AP)

At least 221 people were killed Wednesday in southwestern Syria, in what local officials and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group believe were coordinated attacks.

Multiple suicide bombings were carried out in Suweida, a government-controlled town south of the capital Damascus, as well as in villages to the north and east. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the bombings, and officials said militants also forced their ways into homes and killed the people inside. "It's the bloodiest death toll in Suweida province since the start of the war [in 2011]," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.