France24, Feb. 24, 2017 – Dozens of civilians were killed in northern Syria on Friday after a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into a crowd waiting to reenter the city of Al-Bab, just hours after it had been recaptured from IS group militants.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 51 people were killed in the attack, which occurred outside a rebel command centre in the village of Susian, eight kilometres northeast of Al-Bab. The majority of the victims were civilians, it said.
The blast devastated the twin command posts and also seriously wounded a large number of fighters.
FRANCE 24’s Beirut correspondent Adam Pletts said the bombing had been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group and that at least 70 people had been wounded in the attack.
“Although it targeted an FSA [Free Syrian Army] checkpoint, there was a large number of civilians there who were waiting for permission to return to the town of Al-Bab,” he said.
Abu Jaafar, a field commander of the Mutasem Brigades, told AFP that the IS group “could not bear their huge loss, and their suicide bombers have begun to take revenge”.
He said rebel fighters, Turkish soldiers, and civilians from Al-Bab had called a meeting in Susian “to organise a security apparatus and set a plan for rebuilding Al-Bab.”
“This information reached the (IS group) sleeper cells, which prepared a car bomb” that detonated at Susian around 0800 am (0600 GMT),”
Abu Jaafar, who was near Susian at the time of the attack, said hospitals in the area were full of wounded.
Separately, two Turkish soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Al-Bab on Friday as they were carrying out road checks, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.
Intermittent fire
The strategic town, just 25 kilometres south of the Turkish border, was the jihadists’ last stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.
Turkey sent troops into Syria last August in an operation it said targeted not only IS group but also US-backed Kurdish fighters whom it regards as terrorists.
With its support, the rebels launched an offensive to take Al-Bab last year.
It has proved the bloodiest battle of Ankara’s campaign, accounting for most of the 71 Turkish losses so far.
Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday that its rebel allies now had “near complete control” of the town.
The town was also seen as a prize by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, who had advanced to just 1.5 kilometres from its outskirts in recent weeks.
On Thursday afternoon, an AFP correspondent heard intermittent gunfire as rebel units continued to clear the heavily damaged town.
The battle against the IS group around Al-Bab is just one front line in Aleppo province.
West of the second city, which government forces took full control of in December, fighting flared with rebels in its western suburbs even as peace talks got under way in Geneva.
Rebels, regime pound Aleppo
Exchanges of rocket and artillery fire first broke out on Wednesday, centred on the rebel-held district of Rashideen, the Observatory said.
The government responded with intensive air strikes on Thursday that killed at least 32 rebel fighters.
A fragile ceasefire between government forces and non-jihadist rebels has been in force since late December, brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.
It has led to a sharp reduction in fighting in many areas.
But parts of the country which are held by IS group or its jihadist rival, former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, are not covered by the truce.
The talks in Geneva between government and opposition representatives formally opened on Thursday.
They are the fourth round of UN-brokered negotiations, aimed at ending a conflict that has dragged on for nearly six years and claimed more than 310,000 lives.
UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said: “I’m not expecting miracles,” but warned of dire consequences if the talks “fail again.”