221 killed in Syrian suicide blasts

DAMASCUS, Syria — More than 200 people were killed Wednesday in a string of suicide bombings carried out by Islamic State militants and fighting in Syria's southern city of Sweida and surrounding areas, a monitoring group said.

Rami Abdel-Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, told dpa that 221 people were killed among them 127 civilians and the rest are pro-Syrian fighters.

He added that 45 Islamic State militants, among them seven suicide bombers, were killed.

Earlier Wednesday, Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up in different areas across Sweida, a pro-government city in southern Syria, while fighting between militants and government forces intensified in the countryside northeast of Sweida.

Unconfirmed reports said that Islamic State militants kidnapped several people in areas where fighting was taking place outside the city.

The Sweida News Network quoted health authorities on its Facebook page as saying that the attacks killed at least 90 civilians in the city and the surrounding countryside.

Meanwhile, government forces executed and then hanged the body of an Islamic State fighter in the middle of the city of Sweida, where people gathered to watch, the watchdog said.

A resident of Sweida told dpa that one of the suicide bombers was driving a motorcycle near the market and blew himself up.

The observatory said that government forces managed to retake control of the three villages they lost earlier to Islamic State in the countryside of Sweida.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks and said its jihadists killed 100 “apostates.”

“The soldiers of the caliphate launched an attack on security and government posts inside the city of Sweida,” a statement by the group said. It added that dozens were wounded in the attack.

Local residents told dpa the blasts could be felt throughout the city.

“People were in panic, but now the situation is clam, and security authorities have set up checkpoints across the city,” a resident in Sweida said.

Sweida Governor Amer al-Eshi told the staterun Ikhbariyah TV that “the city of Sweida is secure and calm now.”