Syria activists: 20 killed in airstrikes on Damascus suburb

A Syrian man who was presumed dead after a massive market bombing woke up two days after the attack, emerged from the rubble and walked into his own wake.

Mr Rayhan’s family believed after he failed to come home from the market that he was among that number, and began mourning him that day.

With the dust still embedded in his beard and long hair, he returned home.

Shelling and aerial raids by Syrian government forces killed at least 20 civilians on Saturday in Douma, a rebel-held town east of Damascus, a monitoring group said. It carried images on its Facebook page showing Mr Rayhan with delighted family members who moments before had been mourners.

“Lots of people go missing, get lost in rubble, and only turn up later”, Rami Abdurrahman, the activist group’s director, told The Independent.

London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said stories similar as the one of Mohammed Rayhan “happens many times in Syria now”.

The series of strikes, several of which hit a crowded marketplace in the Eastern Ghouta region town, killed mostly civilians.

Horrific pictures, many too graphic to be shown, showed the scene of devastation after the bombings, with lifeless bodies – including those of children – lined up on the bloodstained floor of a makeshift clinic.

Much of the global community blamed Syria’s government for that attack, though it denied responsibility.

The attack, which was conducted by Syrian government warplanes, targeted a busy market in the opposition-held suburb of the capital, killing more than 100 people, many of them civilians.