38 killed as jihadists strike

BEIRUT: Islamic State militants killed dozens of people in a series of attacks on government-held parts of south-western Syria yesterday, including multiple suicide blasts in Sweida city, official sources said.

The seemingly co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit government territory in many months. At least 38 civilians were killed and 37 others wounded in the city and its countryside, the head of the Sweida health authority told state TV.

North-east of Sweida city, the jihadists launched simultaneous attacks on several villages where they clashed with government forces, according to state media and a war monitor.

In the city two attackers blew themselves up, one near a marketplace and the second in another district, state television said. State news agency SANA said two other Islamic State militants were killed before they could detonate their bombs.

Sweida governor Amer al-Eshi said authorities also arrested another attacker. “The city of Sweida is secure and calm now,” he told state-run Ikhbariyah TV.

Islamic State was driven from nearly all the territory it once held in Syria last year, in separate offensives by the Russian-backed army and a US-backed militia alliance.

President Bashar al-Assad has gone on to crush the last remaining rebel enclaves near the cities of Damascus and Homs, and swept rebels from the southwest. – Reuters/African News Agency (ANA)