ISIL Suicide Car Bombs Kill 26 in Syria's Hassakeh
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Two car bombings, half an hour apart, killed 26 people Monday in a predominantly Kurdish city in northeastern Syria, the country’s state-owned media reported, in an attack swiftly claimed by ISIL.
Among the victims of the explosions in the city of Hassakeh were a woman and her two children and several Kurdish fighters, The Associated Press reported.
ISIL said in a statement that its two suicide bombers targeted a gathering of Kurdish fighters and forces allied with Syrian army.
The bombers struck in two different Hassakeh neighborhoods. The state news agency SANA said at least 21 died in the bombing in the busy Mahatta neighborhood. Bodies were pulled from under the rubble of a collapsed building, the agency said, adding that the number of victims was likely to rise.
The second bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in Khashman district on Hassakeh’s northern outskirts, killing five people, including the woman and her children, SANA said.
Syrian state TV broadcast footage from the two-story building that collapsed in the Mahatta explosion, which also left a large crater in the street. A man is seen holding a victim and weeping. The TV later said that authorities dismantled two other car bombs in the province.
In a statement posted on social media, ISIL said two of its fighters blew themselves up, one at in a graduation ceremony for Kurdish cadets and the other hit a base for forces allied with the Syrian army.
Hassakeh has been scene of repeated attacks by ISIL militants. Syrian Kurdish fighters are largely in control of the city. ISIL militants have been battling the Kurdish forces and Syrian forces in the province for months.