Red Crescent Aid Worker Killed by Syrian Troops; Death Toll Mounts

A Red Crescent aid worker was shot and killed by Syrian troops in the town of Douma on Tuesday according to a statement released by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Three were wounded in the same attack. The victim, identified as Mohammad Al-Khadraa, is the third aid worker to be killed by Bashar Al-Asad’s forces in the past eight months. According to ICRC, there was little chance that the attack on Al-Khadraa’s vehicle was accidental since it was clearly identified with ICRC markings. On Wednesday, four civilians were shot to death on a public bus traveling through a checkpoint; and a rocket fired by Al-Asad’s troops into a building might have killed more than fifty, including children. Opposition groups say that in Douma, where it was reported that gunfire stopped and calm was restored during the visit by the UN observer team only to re-start with greater intensity after the team left, artillery fire continues at an intense rate. The death toll, already above 9,000, continues to mount.