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Truck bomb blast kills dozens in Syria

The Kurdish YPG army has been one of the main forces fighting IS in northern Syria and is backed by the USA and western allies.

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Syrians gather at the site of a bomb attack in Syria’s northeastern city of Qamishli.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, estimated the number killed to be 48, with more than 140 wounded.

Reuters reported that Wednesday’s detonation was so powerful, it injured two people and shattered windows across the border in the Turkish town of Nusaybin.

Footage published by the opposition Syrian SMART news agency claimed to catch the moment the second explosion hit, after showing entire residential streets choked with smoke and strewn with rubble.

In retaliation, the militant group has claimed a series of attacks it said were against members of the global coalition that have been fighting against it. The scene is filled with burned cars, damaged buildings.

On June 19, three people were killed by a suicide bombing, while five Kurdish security personnel were killed late last April by another blast.

People in Syria watch where the attack took place in horror, after 44 casualties have been confirmed so far by authorities in the city of Qamishli.

Though initially reported as a double bombing, it now appears that the first blast caused a petrol tank to explode. The group has carried out a number of bombings in Qamishli, which is in Hasaka province, and in the provincial capital, Hasaka city.

According to the SDF official, the attacks in Qamishli came as a revenge message for the operation in Manbij, “and ISIS sees all Kurds as enemies, not only YPG”, he said.

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Kurdish fighters have been a key force in battling the fanatics in north and northeastern Syria and are the main component in the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance now seeking to push ISIL from Manbij.

IS claims responsibility for attack on Syrian town, 22 dead