Car bomb explodes near Syrian church in Kurdish-controlled area

A car bomb exploded in the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli in northeast Syria on Thursday, wounding several people, media reported.

A gate outside the church was slightly damaged by the blast, but the building itself was largely untouched by the bomb, AFP reported.

Seven people were wounded in the attack, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while Syrian state media reported 11 casualties.

Qamishli is split between regime and Kurdish-controlled districts with the blast occurring in a government-controlled area.

Last month, a car bomb exploded near Kurdish security offices in the same city wounded seven civilians, including a child, the Observatory said.

In Turkish-controlled Afrin, a car bombing killed 13 people on Thursday.

Meanwhile, more than 80 fighters were killed in Thursday in clashes between Syrian rebel and regime forces in northwest Syria.

Syrian Kurdish-Arab forces have led the US-backed fight against the Islamic State group. Although defeated, IS have continued to direct attacks on Kurdish and Turkish-controlled areas.

IS still maintain a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert and sleeper cells in other parts of the country.

The group's so-called "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq ended last March with the fall of Baghouz village.

Syria's war has killed around half-a-million people and made around half the country homeless.