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+--- Thread: Massive tanker bomb kills 48 in Syria border town (/showthread.php?tid=1529)
Massive tanker bomb kills 48 in Syria border town - Mhiz Rebecca - 01-07-2017
A massive tanker truck bomb ripped through a
market by a courthouse in the rebel-held Syrian
town of Azaz on Saturday, killing 48 people and
wounding dozens near the Turkish border.
The attack appeared to be the deadliest yet in the
town in northern Aleppo province, which has
been regularly hit by bombings targeting rebels
and civilians.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said at least fourteen rebels were among
the dead, but most of those killed were civilians,
including five religious judges belonging to
various rebel factions.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said
identification of the dead was being hampered by
the fact that some bodies were completely burned
in the blast.
Video from the scene showed huge clouds of
smoke rising from a street filled with debris and
twisted metal, which bulldozers were working to
clear.
Raging fires were burning in several vehicles, and
the fire brigade was battling to put them out with
a giant water tanker and hoses.
Azaz has been repeatedly struck by bomb attacks,
including in November when rebels said 25
people — civilians and opposition fighters — were
killed in a car bombing of a rebel headquarters.
The rebels accused the Islamic State group of
being behind that attack.
The jihadist group is present elsewhere in Aleppo
province and has sought to advance on Azaz in the
past.
In October, at least 17 people were killed in a car
bomb attack on a rebel checkpoint, the
Observatory said.
– IS suspected –
There was no immediate claim of responsibility
for Saturday’s attack, but Osama al-Merhi, a
lawyer at the scene of the blast, pointed the finger
at IS.
“These kinds of crimes are only committed by the
terrorist group Daesh,” he said, using an Arabic
acronym for IS.
“They are the ones who target civilians and the
cadres who are building this country,” he told
AFP.
The blast comes during a fragile nationwide
ceasefire brokered by government ally Russia and
rebel backer Turkey.
The truce came into effect on December 30, and is
intended to pave the way for new peace talks in
Kazakh capital Astana, which regime ally Iran is
also helping organise.
But the ceasefire and the planned talks have been
threatened by ongoing violence in the rebel-held
Wadi Barada region outside Damascus, which is
the main water source for the capital.
Overnight, the Observatory said seven Syrian
soldiers and two civilians were killed in clashes.
Fighting in the region has continued despite the
truce, which does not apply to IS or former Al-
Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, known
previously as Al-Nusra Front.
The government says Fateh al-Sham is present in
Wadi Barada, and blames rebels there for cutting
water to Damascus since December 22.
Rebels deny the jihadist group is in the region and
say the mains supply was severed after
government strikes hit pumping facilities in the
area.
– Millions without water –
The damage has left 5.5 million people in
Damascus and its suburbs without water,
according to the UN.
A source close to the regime said a temporary
ceasefire had been agreed to allow the repair
crews to enter Wadi Barada, though it could take
days before the mains supply is restored.
State media on Saturday said however that
maintenance teams attempted to reach the area 15
kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Damascus but
were forced back by sniper fire.
More than 310,000 people have been killed in
Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with
anti-government protests.
The fighting has displaced more than half the
population, internally or abroad, and proved
stubbornly resistant to international attempts to
broker a political solution.
Turkey and Russia want to convene negotiations in
Astana later this month, but rebels have
suspended participation in preparatory talks,
blaming regime “violations” in Wadi Barada.
Elsewhere, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish
fighters backed by US special forces moved to
within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the Tabqa
dam held by IS, the Observatory said.
The monitor said the Syrian Democratic Forces
had taken the last IS-held village between them
and the dam on the Euphrates, which is the
country’s largest.
The dam is just 500 metres (yards) from the town
of Tabqa, where many senior IS commanders
have been based.