Blast kills dozens near Syrian border
Turkish news agency says Islamic State planted car bomb • At least 48 dead
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A fuel truck exploded in the busy center of a rebel-held town near Syria’s border with Turkey on Saturday, killing dozens of people and wounding dozens more.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 48 people, mostly civilians, were killed when the tanker blew up in front of a courthouse in the northern Syrian town of Azaz.
Around 14 of the dead were rebel fighters or courthouse guards.
Dozens more had severe injuries, according to the observatory, which monitors the violence in the country.
Turkey’s privately owned Dogan news agency said a car bomb planted by Islamic State was responsible, without providing a source for the information. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the terrorist group.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency cited a doctor in Azaz as saying at least 60 people had been killed and more than 50 wounded.
An Azaz resident who went to the local hospital told Reuters he had counted around 30 bodies laid out.
Syria’s nearly six-year war has created a patchwork of areas of control across the country, and Azaz is a major stronghold of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army.
The FSA is an alliance of moderate rebel groups whose fighters have, with Turkish military support, pushed Islamic State insurgents out of the border area.
Saturday’s explosion was heard across the border in the Turkish town of Kilis, Dogan said.
Anadolu said 23 wounded people had been taken by ambulance to Kilis hospital, one of whom subsequently died.
Southeast of Azaz, Turkish forces have launched an offensive to take back the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab.
In a roundup of its military operations in support of rebels in northern Syria, the Turkish military said 21 Islamic State jihadists had been killed in clashes on Friday.
In a later statement, Turkey’s army said on Saturday that one Turkish soldier was killed in fighting with the terrorists, while Turkish warplanes killed 37 insurgents, including three senior members of the group, in air strikes.