As my colleagues Hania Mourtada and Alan Cowell report, the bodies of dozens of young men, shot in the head from close range with their hands bound, were found in a narrow river in a neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday.
The bodies were found in the Queiq River, which skirts the front line and de facto border between government-held areas of Aleppo and territory controlled by rebel fighters in the neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr.
Graphic video posted on YouTube showed bodies lined up along the muddy riverbank. Many had visible head wounds and lengths of cord wrapped around their wrists. Gunfire echoed in the distance, and at the end of the clip the cameraman broke into a run. “A sniper is firing at us,” he said.
Early video and reports from the scene on Tuesday suggested the number of dead to be around 50, a figure that rose significantly on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-government group based in Britain that has a network of contacts inside Syria, said 65 bodies were recovered from the river. The group estimated that 15 more remained in the water but could not be retrieved because of a threat posed by government snipers.
The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper whose correspondent, Ruth Sherlock, was on the scene of the grim discovery, reported that residents pulled 79 bodies out of the river. A rebel fighter interviewed by Ms. Sherlock estimated that as many as 30 more bodies could remain in the water, but said they were impossible to retrieve because of nearby government sniper positions.
Went to the scene of the massacre site. Corpses all men, most aged 20-40yrs, but 2 young boys also. Many in civilian clothes #Syria #Aleppo
— Ruth Sherlock (@Rsherlock) 29 Jan 13
Some corpses new. Others were bloated&skin disintegrating-had clearly been in river for days. All shot through head and hands tied #Aleppo
— Ruth Sherlock (@Rsherlock) 29 Jan 13
Thomas Rassloff, a freelance photographer based in Germany, was taken to the riverbank by Free Syrian Army fighters who he said told him “there are a lot of bodies.” Mr. Rassloff described the scene in a post on Time magazine’s Lightbox blog.
As we climbed down to the river, we couldn’t believe the horror of the scene. The bodies were bloated and covered with blood; some with their hands tied behind their backs. Several were missing eyes. All were men, and a few of the victims appeared to be young boys.
Nearby residents began gathering at the banks of the river. A large number of police were gathering there, too, some of whom I recognized from an interview days before. One officer I knew gave me a type of perfume to put under my nose to combat the smell.
One by one, the victims were loaded into cars and taken to a nearby school, where relatives began to identify the deceased. I photographed the scene at the river for approximately 30 minutes before my driver felt we should leave due to the risk of snipers and mortars.
The rebels and the government have blamed each other for the mass killing, but Ms. Sherlock, of The Daily Telegraph, reported that many of the dead were residents of rebel-held areas whose families said they disappeared after traveling to government-held areas.
It was impossible to be certain who was responsible for their deaths. But those identified, at least half the total by nightfall, were from rebel-held districts, and locals blamed government checkpoints on the other side of the river.
“These are my sons,” said Abu Mohammed, 73, as he shuffled towards the corpses laid out in rows in a schoolyard. A relative held his arm, as he stared at the exposed faces of the victims.
His legs buckled as he recognised the two young men, no older than 30, as his sons. They had travelled to central Aleppo, which is still in the hands of the Syrian government, 20 days before.
“They thought they had nothing to fear from the government, so they went to renew their identity cards. But they didn’t come back. Now I have found them here.”
Video posted to YouTube from the schoolyard where the bodies were taken shows dozens of bodies lined up in rows, each one neatly wrapped in a blue plastic tarp.
Another clip shows local families filing slowly through the rows of bodies looking for missing loved ones. A man off camera yells into the crowd, “Guys who have finished, go outside!” Among those searching, a grown man knelt next to one of the bodies, gently held its head and plaintively wailed. Through his moans, he calls the dead man his brother.
Combat between the government and rebel forces has raged for more than six months in Aleppo, the most populous city in Syria. The fighting continued while the residents of Bustan al-Qasr searched the bodies for lost loved ones. Fear of airstrikes and shelling repeatedly scattered the crowd, according to an update posted by Ms. Sherlock on Twitter.
Hundreds crowded round bodies in schoolyard, praying and crying. They were searching if a family member was among the victims #syria #aleppo
— Ruth Sherlock (@Rsherlock) 29 Jan 13
But, their search was interrupted by govt fighter jets. Families fled in panic every time plane came , fearing airstrike #syria #aleppo
— Ruth Sherlock (@Rsherlock) 29 Jan 13
