Almost 50 die in border-town blast

BEIRUT — A car bomb ripped through a busy commercial district in a rebel-held Syrian town along the Turkish border Saturday, killing nearly 50 in a huge explosion that damaged buildings and left rescuers scrambling to find survivors amid the wreckage, opposition activists said.

Rescuers and doctors said the explosion in Azaz was so large there were nearly 100 wounded. Many were taken to the Turkish border town of Kilis for treatment, as local hospitals couldn’t cope.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Locals said a rigged tanker caused the explosion and they blamed Islamic State militants, who have carried out attacks in the town before. The militant group has been increasingly pressed in Syria and Iraq, and has escalated its attacks against Turkey — which backs Syrian opposition fighters in a campaign against the group in northern Syria.

Azaz, only a couple of miles from the Turkish border, is a key town on a route used by opposition fighters moving between Syria and Turkey, and is a hub for anti-government activists as well as many displaced by the recent fighting in Aleppo. Activists say its pre-war population of 30,000 has swelled.

It is also sandwiched between rival groups, including Kurdish fighters to the west and Turkey-backed opposition groups to the east. Islamic State militants, who have tried to advance on the key border town before, have been pushed back farther east in recent months in the Turkey-backed offensive.

The bomb went off early Saturday afternoon outside a local courthouse and security headquarters operated by the opposition fighters who control the town, resident and activist Saif Alnajdi said.

“It hit the busiest part of the town,” Alnajdi said.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said at least 48 people were killed. The activist-operated local Azaz Media center and Shabha Press put the death toll at 60, adding that search-and-rescue operations continued for hours after the explosion.

The court house and the security headquarters were damaged, as well as the Red Crescent and municipality offices, according to activists in the area.