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Death toll rises after triple truck-bomb attacks in Kurdish-controlled Syria | Death toll rises after triple truck-bomb attacks in Kurdish-controlled Syria |
(35 minutes later) | |
A triple truck bomb attack carried out by Islamic State in northeastern Syria killed at least 50 people and wounded 80 others, a spokesman for the Kurdish militia that controls the area said on Friday. | |
The town in the northeastern province of Hasaka is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which has been battling Islamic State with the support of US-led air strikes. | |
Kurdish fighters have advanced in the last few weeks against Islamic State in Hasaka province, notably with the takeover of the town of al Houl by a US-backed rebel alliance that includes the YPG. | |
The three blasts, carried out by at least two suicide bombers, hit outside a hospital, at a market and in a residential area in the town of Tel Tamer late on Thursday, the YPG’s Redur Xelil said via internet messaging service. | |
“There is massive destruction in the town, and the number killed is between 50 and 60, all of them civilians,” he said. | |
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave an earlier death toll of at least 22 people, saying that number was likely to increase. | |
Amaq News Agency, which supports Islamic State militants, said in a statement that the group had carried out the attack, targeting Kurdish “bases” in Tel Tamer with three suicide bombs. | |
The Observatory said one of the bombs exploded near a health centre and another near a vegetable market. It said there was “confirmed information” about casualties among the Kurdish internal security force known as the Asayish. | |
The YPG has been the most effective partner on the ground in Syria for the US-led coalition that is fighting Islamic State. In October, it became part of the new US-backed alliance, called the Democratic Forces of Syria. |