Red Cross workers kidnapped in Syria

Gunmen kidnapped seven aid workers in northwestern Syria on Sunday, officials said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said six Red Cross workers and one Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer were kidnapped in Syria’s Idlib province, where they had traveled to deliver medical supplies.

Ewan Watson, an ICRC spokesman in Geneva, said unidentified, armed men abducted the workers on Sunday morning. He also called for the immediate and unconditional release of its seven colleagues, CNN reports. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that an armed terrorist group opened fire on a vehicle the workers were traveling in and then abducted them.

Also on Sunday, two car bombs exploded in central Damascus. The aftermath of the bombings showed the charred remains of at least one vehicle that rammed a wall surrounding Umayyad Square in the center of the Syrian capital. There were no casualties in the attack, although each car contained 100 kilograms of explosives.