BRUTAL

Five of Syria’s White Helmets Rescuers Killed in Apparent Ambush

Masked gunmen reportedly stormed the group’s headquarters.

Five Syrian rescue workers were killed by masked gunman Saturday morning as they were breaking their Ramadan fast, the White Helmets said. The rescue group said the attack occurred just before dawn at their headquarters in the northern province of Aleppo. “At around 2:00 am, an armed group stormed the Al-Hader center, blindfolded the staff members who were on the night shift, and killed five of them,” Ahmad al-Hamish, the head of the center, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. Two other rescue workers were reportedly injured, while two others managed to escape. More than 200 members of the group have been killed in the country’s seven-year war, but usually in bombings of city centers. It was not immediately clear if the group was specifically targeted for their work in Saturday’s incident, but the assailants also reportedly stole equipment from the center.