Syrian rebels 'attack Damascus University'

The students were killed on Thursday when rebel mortar bombs landed on the canteen of Damascus University’s College of Architecture, two pro-government television channels said.

One station, Ikhbariya, showed images of doctors pumping the chests of at least two young men and blood splattered on the floor of what appeared to be an outdoor canteen.

A young women was shown walking in a hospital and bleeding heavily from her face.

"There were bodies everywhere. I think as many as 15 people were killed, and dozens more people were wounded," an employee of the university told The Daily Telegraph by telephone.

^{A man being treated after he was injured in a mortar attack that hit the architecture faculty of Damascus University Photo: AFP/GETTY}

The college is in Baramkeh, a central Damascus suburb where mortar attacks by rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad have intensified this week.

The university is surrounded by government buildings, including the Ministry of Defence, the headquarters for state media and the president’s official residence.

Once a bastion for Assad’s forces, the capital has become a focal point of the two-year-old uprising against four decades of family rule that has developed into civil war in which more than 70,000 people have been killed.

Rebels have formed a semi-circle around the capital and are trying to gain control of strategic areas to help them break into the centre of Damascus.

State television blamed rebels who have stepped up attacks in the heart of the Syrian capital.

SANA, the state newsagency, added that six others were hurt by “mortars that targeted the faculty cafeteria”.

Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad have this week escalated their mortar attacks on central Damascus, including Umayyad Square in the middle of the capital, which houses the state television headquarters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on sources on the ground for its information, also reported Thursday’s attack, although it put the toll at 10 people dead.

The United Nations refugee agency voiced deep concern on Thursday at reports of mass deportations of Syrians from Turkey and said it had taken up the issue with Turkish authorities.

Turkish officials said that Turkey sent hundreds of refugees back to Syria after clashes with military police at their camp near the border in a protest over living conditions, although the foreign ministry later said 50-60 Syrians had returned voluntarily.

“UNHCR is very concerned with reports of a serious incident and allegations of possible deportations from Akcakale Tent City in the past 24 hours,” Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said.