BEIRUT/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – An Islamic State car bomb killed more than 40 people on Friday in a Syrian village held by rebels backed by Turkey, sources in the region and a war monitor said, a day after the jihadist group was driven from its last stronghold in the area.
The blast hit a security checkpoint controlled by rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner in the village of Sousian, killing 41 people including 35 civilians, the sources in the region said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 42 people were killed.
The Turkey-backed rebels had on Thursday driven Islamic State from al-Bab and two smaller towns nearby after weeks of streetfighting, depriving the hardline militants of their last big possession in northwest Syria.
Sousian is behind the rebel lines about eight km (five miles) northwest of al-Bab.
A rebel fighter with the Sultan Murad Brigade near al Bab said: “It was done on a checkpoint but there were a lot of families there gathered and waiting to get back to al-Bab. Therefore we have many civilian casualties.”
FIGHTING CONTINUES
Islamic State said in a social media posting that it was behind the attack. On Thursday it acknowledged it had lost control of al-Bab.
Also on Thursday, several Turkey-backed rebels were killed by a mine in al-Bab while clearing the town of unexploded ordnance after Islamic State retreated, the Observatory said. Continued…
