BBC News with Nick Kelly

Bomb disposal experts in the American state of Colorado have carried out a controlled explosion at the

booby-trapped

apartment of the man suspected of shooting dead 12 people at a cinema in the town of Aurora. Police said the blast successfully disabled a number of tripwires and should make it possible to enter the apartment safely. Zoe Conway reports from Washington.

It took a bomb squad, firefighters and the police more than 30 hours to come up with a plan to make the apartment safe. Whilst a camera

inserted

through a window showed that a sophisticated booby trap was inside, they were concerned that unidentified chemicals could cause a large explosion. That would have complicated investigators' search for clues as to the motive behind the attack. There is speculation that the suspect James Holmes dyed his hair red to look like the Batman villain, the Joker – that could explain why he chose to carry out the shootings at a showing of the film. The local police chief is not commenting on those reports.

Fighting is reported to be intensifying across Syria with the city of Aleppo seeing a second day of fierce clashes. In Homs, security forces are reported to have attacked protesters at the main jail. Jim Muir reports from neighboring Lebanon.

There's been more heavy fighting in parts of Syria's second city Aleppo with government forces storming a rebel-held quarter and many residents fleeing for safety. The clashes in Aleppo are an