Damascus, 10 January 2014 – UNICEF deplores yesterday’s car bombing near a school in Al-Kafat village, Hama governorate, in which as many as 20 people were reportedly killed and around 100 reportedly injured. Although details of the attack are still filtering out, many children from Al-Kafat school — less than 100 metres away from the blast — are believed to be among the dead and injured. A number of children had just finished exams and were leaving the school to return to their homes when the car bomb was detonated.

UNICEF calls on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect children and all other civilians; including protection of schools as zones of peace and safe refuge for children.