Syria Hangs 5 Men for Bombing Deaths
Syrian authorities Monday executed five suspected Iraqi intelligence agents for planting bombs that killed 400 people in Syria last year, the official Syrian news agency reported.
The news agency said the men, who admitted receiving training in Iraq and acted on instructions from the Baghdad regime, were responsible for bomb blasts on April 16, 1986, at transportation installations. It identified the five men, hanged at dawn, but did not disclose their nationality or other details.
Syrian officials gave few details of the bombings at the time, but the Christian Voice of Lebanon radio station reported that nine explosions struck Syria within hours.
Syria and Iraq are ruled by rival branches of the Arab Baath party, which advocates a secular and socialist Arab ideology. The rivalry has escalated since Syria sided with Iran in its war with Iraq.
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