The video below the fold shows an attack on a car of UN observers in Syria which is seemingly wounding or killing some civilians standing in front of the car. When the observers speed away to save themselves they seem to drive over some of those wounded or dead. The incident is said to have happened in Khan Sheikhun, a town in Idlib province said to be under opposition control.
The scenes of this low quality video will be controversial. One side will claim that it shows that some seemingly anti-Syrian government forces are trying to sabotage the UN mission by attacking the observers. The other will claim that some government agent did this. But the worst issue is that it will enrage both sides against the observers for panicking and driving over the wounded.
There are four UN marked white cars in a city street with a dozen people around mostly in front of the first car holding it up. The observers are within the cars and ready to drive away. There are a lot of shoes lying in the street probably from an earlier demonstration against these observers.
Suddenly a bang and smoke is coming from the front of the first car. As the smoke retreats on can see that the cars hood is partially blown up and that some people are now lying in front of the car likely wounded or dead.
The first car tries to back up twice to turn but can not move much as the second car is immediately behind it. It then speeds forward and over the people lying on the ground. The second car follows.
The third car which was standing a few yards behind follows too but manages to drive around the corpses. The fourth car which was standing immediately behind the third is speeding to overtake the third car and, probably not seeing them, also overruns the bodies.
Reuters reports an incident in Khan Sheikhoun but it does not immediately fit with what the video shows:
Beirut – A car belonging to U.N. monitors was damaged by an explosion while they toured the central Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday but none of the monitors was hurt, a member of the observer team said.
“We went to observe and after a while shooting occurred,” he told Reuters by telephone, adding that the shooting was followed by the blast which damaged the car.
The seven-strong team had lost their vehicles and were trying to organise a safe return to their base, he said without giving details. Another monitor and a member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said they were with FSA rebels.
…
“We are safe with the Free Army and we are waiting for a (U.N.) group to pick us up,” the second monitor said.
How come the cars were good enough to drive away from the incident but are now all lost? There is also no shooting in the video. This then may be a different (coordinated?) attack or just the usual confusion following such events.
The video:
Another graphic video shows three wounded men in Khan Sheikhun probably related to the incident.