Turkey condemns deadly attack in southern Aleppo

By Fatih Hafizmehmet

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned a deadly attack in southern Aleppo in Syria, according to a statement issued on Monday.

"We condemn the treacherous attack in Aleppo's Rashidin area which resulted with death of tens of people, mostly civilians," the statement said.

It stressed that the attack has once again showed the importance of empowering ceasefire announced on Dec. 30, 2016 and expansion of the ceasefire to the whole country.

Establishing safe zones in Syria is necessary in order to prevent the repetition of similar humanitarian plights, the statement added.

At least 100 people were killed Saturday when a blast in southern Aleppo hit buses ferrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged regime-held towns.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, as many as 400,000 people are estimated to have been killed -- and millions more displaced -- as a result of the conflict, according to UN officials.