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Syria footballer killed in Damascus stadium attack

Damascus has seen fighting between rebels and troops for months

A Syrian footballer has been killed in a mortar strike on a stadium in Damascus, the state news agency says.

Damascus has seen fighting between rebels and troops for months

Sana news agency says two shells landed in Tishreen stadium in central Baramkeh district while Al-Wathba team was training there.

Several other players were injured in the attack “by terrorists”, Sana said.

It comes a day after state media said two mortars landed near Tishreen presidential palace in another area of Damascus without reports of injuries.

Rebels and troops have been fighting in and around Damascus for months.

Opposition sources say more than 50 people were killed in Damascus suburbs on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, at least 31 people were also killed on Tuesday in an army rocket attack in Syria’s second city, Aleppo, eyewitnesses and activists said, in one of the deadliest incident in recent days.

The UN says about 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

A Lebanese judge meanwhile has recommended the death penalty for a former pro-Syrian Lebanese minister for allegedly plotting attacks.

Michel Samaha is accused, along with Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk, of “transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon in an attempt to assassinate Lebanese political and religious leaders,” according to a copy of the indictment seen by AFP news agency.

Mr Samaha, a member of parliament, was arrested in Beirut in August, while Mr Mamlouk remains free.

The former minister’s arrest came as a surprise in Lebanon, where the current coalition government includes Syria’s allies.

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