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44 dead in double bomb blast in Syria Kurdish city

Hours after the early-morning explosion, rescue workers continued to search for survivors under the rubble of buildings, some of them totally leveled by the powerful blast.

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Kurdish officials said Islamic State militants targeted Qamishli in retaliation for the ongoing offensive against Manbij, an Islamic State stronghold east of Qamishli.

A news agency linked to ISIS said Wednesday the terror group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Northern Syria.

Syrians carry the body of a victim from a building damaged in twin bombings struck Kurdish town of Qamishli, Syria.

The bomb blasts on Wednesday come as the USA -backed coalition and the SDF advance on ISIS in the town of Manbij, also in northeastern Syria.

It said one of the bombs exploded near a security headquarters of the Kurdish administration that controls most of Hasaka province, where Qamishli is located.

The Manbij area is the last large tract of land along Syria’s northern border with Turkey under ISIS control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A truck carrying explosives has detonated in the western part of Qamishli, an area controlled by the Kurds.

A Kurdish-dominated militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition, is spearheading the
battle against IS in northern Syria.

State TV said one blast was from a vehicle bomb and the other from a bomb on a motorbike.

Though initially reported as a double bombing, it now appears that the first blast caused a petrol tank to explode.

Meanwhile, the national Syrian TV said 31 people were killed and over 170 others wounded by two blasts in Qamishli.

A man walks at a damaged site after two bomb blasts claimed by ISIS hit Qamishli.

In a statement circulated on social media, it said the attack was carried out by a bomber in an explosives-laden truck.

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Brett McGurk, the United States official leading the coalition fight against IS, condemned the attack and vowed to continue support to the Syrian Kurds. The Kurdish YPG militi, which has proved the most effective partner for a USA -led coalition battling Islamic State, is also involved in fighting the extremists farther west, in Aleppo province.

ISIS Syria