The marketplace is located in the centre of Maarrat al-Nouman city in southern rural Idlib. It hosts a variety of shops that most prominently sell: vegetables, electric supplies, motorbikes, car accessories and mobile carts for salespeople.
On Sunday the 8th of October at exactly 2:20pm, the marketplace was targeted by a Syrian regime MiG-21 fighter with 2 Thermobaric bomb air raids, resulting in a Massacre.
The bombing targeted the marketplace entrance at peak time from the Western side, near the old Cultural Centre in the city centre. This led to the death of 10 people, including 2 children and 2 women with the majority of the bodies charred. Additionally, around 40 people were injured.
The bombing also led to the burning down of shops and causing them major material damage. It also destroyed many homes in the area.
The civil defence team in Idlib arrived to the marketplace a few minutes after the onslaught and began extinguishing the fire and bringing out the wounded civilians from under the rubble of destroyed homes. They also retrieved the bodies and dismembered limbs of victims.
Furthermore, the civil defense team evacuated the marketplace fearing that it will be targeted once again by the Syrian regimes’ warplanes which had returned shortly after the bombing.
The victims’ names are as follows:
- Ahmed Mohamed al-Raad
- Jameel Abdul-Razzaq al-Tanari
- Zakariya Abdul-Kareem al-Bash
- Samar Awad
- Abdul-Hameed al-Ghraib
- Lou’ai Hassan al-Doodi (child)
- Mohamed Hussain al-Tumah
- Mahmood Hassaan al-Harkawi (child)
- Nidhaal al-Diyab
- The wife of Abdul-Hameed al-Tumah (Um Hussain)
The testimony of the Media activist Anas al-Maarawi:
“On the 8th of October 2017 at around 2pm, the Syrian regimes’ warplanes conducted 2 air raids onto the centre of Maarrat al-Nouman city. We rushed towards the location of the bombing to cover the event, after we had heard that a massacre occurred within the area. The city’s marketplace had been targeted, so we headed towards it.
Fire had broken out in most of the shops and other properties including cars, carts and houses, amid a state of panic.
A few minutes later, the civil defense team arrived and extinguished the fire and collected victims’ dismembered limbs that had been scattered everywhere. They also took out victims and injured people from under the rubble. They brought out an injured man while we were standing there, and then brought out his injured child who was in a critical state.
I couldn’t quantify the number of victims at the time of the massacre, as the bodies had been charred and the dismembered limbs had been scattered everywhere, but I found out afterwards that they were around 10 people.
The city of Khan Shaykhun nearby from here was also bombed yesterday (07/10/2017), which resulted in a massacre. Additionally, the whole of the south of rural Idlib was heavily bombed.”
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