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Syria: Explosion hits bus convoy carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns under deal between regime and rebels Syria: Explosion hits bus convoy carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns under deal between regime and rebels
(35 minutes later)
An explosion has reportedly hit a convoy of buses carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns in Syria. An explosion has hit a convoy of buses carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns in Syria, killing at least 16 people.
Bashar al-Assad’s government and rebels had struck a deal to allow thousands of people to leave two pro-government towns and two pro-opposition strongholds but buses carrying at them were held at depots overnight. The blast hit the Rashidin area on the outskirts of Aleppo, where dozens of buses carrying mostly Shia Muslim families from pro-government villages were waiting to enter the city.
More to follow Photos that were too graphic to publish showed a huge fire raging next to bodies scattered on the ground next to charred buses, including those of children.
State media said an unknown number of people had been killed or wounded in the attack, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast was caused by a bomb.
Reports that a suicide attacker had targeted the convoy with a car bomb could not be confirmed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, with Shias targeted predominantly by Isis and to a lesser extent by al-Qaeda in the past.
The victims are believed to be from the pro-government villages of Foua and Kefraya, who had been starving under a siege by Islamist rebels. 
They were allowed to leave the area in the "four towns" deal struck between rebels and Bashar al-Assad’s government, which allowed thousands of people to leave the pro-rebel areas of Madaya and Zabadani, where residents had also been starving.
Dozens of buses carrying civilians from opposing side of the six-year civil left as planned on Friday but were held at depots overnight, parked up separated by a wall on the outskirts of Aleppo city.
Syrian state television blamed rebels for obstructing the deal, while Syrian Red Crescent teams distributed meals for families stranded more than 30 hours after they left their homes.
Residents from Kefraya and Foua were to be transferred government-controlled Jibrin, while those from Madaya and Zabadani were heading towards the rebel-held Idlib province.
“The people are restless and the situation is disastrous,” said Ahmed Afandar, a resident evacuated from his hometown near Madaya. 
“All these thousands of people are stuck in less than half a kilometre. We are not moving forward or backward.”
Mr Afandar said people had not been ”pressured“ to remain on buses amid reported disagreements between regime and rebel negotiators over the evacuation of fighters.
An opposition representative, Ali Diab, told Al-Arabiya television that fewer armed men than agreed to were evacuated from the pro-government areas, violating the terms of the agreement. 
A resident of Zabadani, Amer Burhan, said no evacuation had taken place.