Mortar attack on popular market kills 24 in Damascus

DAMASCUS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 24 people were killed on Tuesday when a rebel rocket shell hit a crowded marketplace east of the capital Damascus, the state TV said.

The improvised rocket hit the Kashkoul marketplace east of Damascus, leaving many more people wounded.

The attack is one of the deadliest caused by rebels' rocket fire in Damascus, where four other people were killed Tuesday by mortar shells in other parts of Damascus.

This comes as the Syrian army is advancing in the depth of the rebel bastions in Eastern Ghouta in the countryside of Damascus.

The state TV said the Syrian forces reached on Tuesday the farmlands of the Ayn Tarma area, a key bastion of the Failaq al-Rahman rebels, who are responsible for most of the mortar and rocket attacks on the capital.

The Syrian army has already controlled over 80 percent of Eastern Ghouta, the last remaining threat to the capital. Enditem