A massive bomb blast claimed by the Islamic State (IS) killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens on Wednesday in the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Qamishli. It was the largest and deadliest attack to hit the city since the beginning of Syria’s conflict in March 2011.
Syrian state media gave a toll of 44 dead and 140 injured in the bombing, which hit a western district of the city where several local Kurdish ministries are located.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor gave a toll of 48 dead, adding that children and women were among those killed.
Kurdish officials said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck.
The Islamic State group claimed the attack in a statement circulated on social media, calling it “a response to the crimes committed by the crusader coalition aircraft” in the town of Manbij, a bastion of the jihadist group in Syria’s Aleppo province.
Key anti-IS force
Kurdish fighters, backed by the U.S.-led coalition forces, have been a key force battling the jihadists in north and northeastern Syria and are the main component in the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance currently seeking to oust IS from Manbij. Qamishli is under the shared control of the Syrian regime and Kurdish authorities, who have declared zones of “autonomous administration” across parts of north and northeast Syria.
It has regularly been targeted in bomb attacks, many of which have been claimed by IS. But a source in the Kurdish Asayesh security forces told AFP “this is the largest explosion the city has ever seen”.
