Mortar shell kills 6 at Damascus International Fair, several injured: Report

At least five people have been killed in a mortar attack near an international exhibition complex in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

At least five people have been killed in a mortar attack near an international exhibition complex in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that over a dozen other people were wounded, some critically, after the shell hit the vicinity of the entrance of the 59th Damascus International Fair, three days after its opening.

It added that the death toll could likely rise as the seriously injured may succumb to their wounds.

“We were preparing to receive visitors when I heard an explosion… then I saw smoke from the side of the entrance to the exhibition hall,” said Iyad Jaber, 39, a Syrian working at a textile stand.

The Syrian capital has been largely insulated from most of the rampant violence by foreign-backed terrorist groups, which is still underway almost across the Arab country, but several key militant enclaves remain in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus.