BEIRUT (AFP) ― Unknown assailants killed five nuclear engineers Sunday while they were on a bus just north of Damascus, near the research center where they worked, a monitor said on Sunday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, later said four of the engineers were Syrian, while one was Iranian.
“Unidentified attackers murdered five nuclear energy engineers who worked in the scientific research center near the neighborhood of Barzeh, northern Damascus,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
He later said, “Four of the engineers were Syrian, and one was Iranian. Their bus was ambushed while they were on their way to the research center. Their assailants shot them dead.”
In July last year, six people who worked at the same center were killed in a mortar attack carried out by rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.
Another military research center, also near Damascus, was also hit by a deadly Israeli raid in May 2013.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
