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Politics
Stray Bullets in Homs Injure Former Syria Soccer Olympic Coach; Kill Aged Father
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Dubai- (PanOrient News) Former coach of Syrian Olympic soccer team, Imad Khankan, was injured after being hit by bullets near his residence in the city of Homs, center of anti-government uprising in Syria, local media reported online.
The attack was from a sniper stationed on a high building in the al Midan district, center of Homs, the reports said, noting that many passersby in that area were hit by the same snipers.
"As Imad and his father, Abdul Wakeel Khankan, who is over ninety years old, were leaving a nearby mosque after the evening prayer last Monday, the father was hit by a sniper bullet that killed him in the middle of the road. When the son, Imad, was trying to drag his father away from the sniper range, he was also hit by bullets and was treated by a nearby hospital," anti Government activists said.
Syrian government media reported, however, that "armed gangs were responsible for the attack".
Syrian opposition activists accuse the government security forces of stationing snipers on rooftops of government and other buildings to shoot people randomly, mainly to prevent demonstrations against the Syrian regime from escalating. Activists also say that such attacks on civilians aim to create chaos in the city which enhances the government theory that foreign fighters and local thugs and gangs are committing crimes against civilians by orders of the "enemies" of Syria.
Before Imad Khankan, a former soccer player, resigned from coaching the Syrian Olympic team about 2 months ago, he came to Tokyo with his team for a match with Japan. Japan won 2/1.
Photo: Imad Khankan attending the funural of his father in Homs last week (youtube photo), and giving a press conference in Tokyo on November 27, 2011.
PanOrient News
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