Triple bombing kills scores in Syria's Qamishli amid spate of city violence

Triple bombing kills scores in Syria's Qamishli amid spate of city violence
An Armenian priest and his father were also killed on Monday in an assassination claimed by the Islamic State group.
2 min read
11 November, 2019
Three simultaneous bombings killed at least six civilians in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Monday, a Kurdish security source and a UK-based monitor said.

There was no immediate claim for the explosions, but they occurred shortly after the Islamic State group said it was responsible for the killing the same day of a priest from the same city.

Two car bombs and an expolosives-rigged motorcycle blew up in a market and near a school in the city, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

More than 20 people were wounded and at least six civilians killed in the simultaneous bombings.

The blasts come after IS claimed to have killed an Armenian Catholic priest from Qamishli.

The priest, named as Father Joseph Hanna Ibrahim, and his father were killed by gunfire as they made their way to the eastern province of Deir az-Zour to inspect the restoration of a church there.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have led the battle against IS in Syria, expelling the extremist group from its last scrap of territory in March.

But IS militants have continued to wage deadly attacks in northeastern and eastern Syria ever since.

In July, the extremist group said it was responsible for a massive truck bomb that killed at least 44 people in Qamishli. 

A Turkish military operation against the Kurdish fighters on October 9 heightened fears that IS fighters could break out in mass from Kurdish prisons, with some critics of the incursion claiming fighting between Ankara and Kurdish forces could provide an open arena for IS sleeper cells to launch fresh attacks.

On October 11, IS claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed at least six people in Qamishli. The victims included civilians and security forces, according to Kurdish officials.

A shaky Turkish-Russian ceasefire deal has more or less halted that offensive - despite some persistent fighting along the edges of territory now controlled by Turkey - and seen Kurdish forces withdraw from areas along the border, except for Qamishli.

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