60 lives lost as truck blast hits opposition-held

A fuel truck exploded in the busy center of an opposition-held town near Syria’s border with Turkey on Saturday, killing dozens of people and wounding dozens more, several sources said.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency cited a doctor in Azaz as saying at least 60 people had been killed and more than 50 wounded.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, put the death toll at 48, mostly civilians. It said the tanker blew up in front of a courthouse in the northern Syrian town of Azaz.
Around 14 of the dead were opposition fighters or courthouse guards, it said.
Dozens more had severe injuries, said the observatory, which monitors the violence in the country.
In unsourced comments, Turkey’s privately owned Dogan news agency said a car bomb planted by Daesh was responsible. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the militant group.
An Azaz resident who went to the local hospital told Reuters he had counted around 30 bodies laid out.
Syria’s nearly six-year war has created a patchwork of areas of control across the country, and Azaz is a major stronghold of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
The FSA is an alliance of moderate opposition groups whose fighters have, with Turkish military support, pushed Daesh militants out of the border area.
Saturday’s explosion was heard across the border in the Turkish town of Kilis, Dogan said.
Anadolu said 23 wounded people had been taken by ambulance to Kilis hospital, one of whom subsequently died.
Southeast of Azaz, Turkish forces have launched an offensive to take back the Daesh-held town of Al-Bab.
Rami Abdurrahman of the observatory said those killed included six opposition fighters.
He said the explosion was caused by a rigged water or fuel tanker, which explains the large blast and high death toll.
The activist-operated local Azaz Media center confirmed that 60 people were killed, adding that search and rescue operations continued for hours after the explosion.
Resident and activist Saif Alnajdi said rescue workers were still working to identify those killed and ensure bodies were removed from the area, suggesting that the death toll was not final.
He said some of the severely wounded were transported across the border into the Turkish town of Kilis for treatment. Alnajdi said some witnesses saw the vehicle drive into the town’s center.
Media activist Baha Al-Halabi, based in Aleppo province and who gathered information from people in Azaz, said witnesses reported many unidentified bodies because of the magnitude of the explosion.
Footage shared online showed a large plume of black smoke rising above the chaotic street and the sound of gunfire in the background as onlookers gathered around the site.
In one instance, a father ran away from the scene, carrying his child to safety.

Source: Arab News