Homs school bombing

The Homs school bombing occurred on 1 October 2014 in Homs, Syria in an Alawite majority neighborhood. The attackers initially detonated a car bomb that was in front of the Akrameh al-Makhzumi elementary school. The attacked was followed-up shortly after when a second suicide bomber drove up to the school and detonated his vehicle. The double bombing killed 54 people: 47 children, 3 members of security forces and 4 adult civilians. The attack was the deadliest strike to occur in a government controlled area in over a year, with no group immediately taking responsibility.

Public Reaction

Following the bombing, several protests broke out because of the government's failure to prevent the attack. Although most protestors where reportedly be pro-government, many called for the removal of Iyad Ghazal who was the provincial governor for the Homs Governate. Iyad, who at the time was largely unpopular with the people, was eventually removed from office. Protests began to turn anti-government when Syrian security forces fired on a group of protestors.