Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Hero father handed his three-year-old daughter to his wife before jumping on suicide bomber about to blow up a bus in Damascus

Via WiscoDave

Blast: The bus, Lebanese number plates, had been carrying pilgrims close to Damascus' Sayyida Ruqayya shrine, according to television channel al-Manar, which is run by Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah

A heroic Lebanese man handed his three-year-old son to his wife and jumped on top of a suicide bomber just seconds before the terrorist blew himself up, it has been claimed.

Qasim Hatoum is understood to have spotted a Saudi man preparing to detonate the explosives shortly after boarding a bus in a rare attack in the centre of the Syrian capital Damascus.

In a selfless act Hatoum sought to cushion the impact of the coming blast, handing his son to his wife before running towards the militant and leaping on top of him.

The terrorist - later confirmed as a member of Al Qaeda's Syrian-affiliate Al Nusra Front - was still able to blow himself up, killing at least six people, including Hatoum, and wounding 19 others. 

However it is possible that the death toll could have even higher had Hatoum not heroically attempted to less the impact. It may even have killed his wife and child, the latter of whom is still receiving treatment for shrapnel wounds to the face at Damascus' Great Prophet Hospital.

4 comments:

  1. Headline says he handed his daughter, byline says he handed his son. Superb bravery either way...

    Daniel

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    1. Absolutely. A split second decision and you wonder if you would have reacted that quickly/the same in way in similar circumstances.

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  2. This story reminded me of a quote of Gen. George S. Patton : "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

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    1. Thank you as I hadn't heard/remembered that it quite a while.

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