26 killed in twin suicide bombings in Syria

Damascus: At least 26 people were killed and more than 70 injured on Monday in twin suicide bombings that rocked Syria's Hasakah province, SANA news agency reported. A woman and her two children were among the killed, when two explosions rattled the neighbourhoods of Khashman and Mahatta in Hasakah, SANA said on Tuesday.

The first blast was caused by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive-laden vehicle in Khashman on the northern outskirts of the city, Xinhua news agency reported. The bombing killed and wounded many people, some of whom were women and children with severe injuries.

Half an hour later, another suicide bomber driving an explosive-packed water tanker detonated himself at the Mahatta neighbourhood. Both blasts have left huge property losses, said SANA, adding that most of the wounded were women and children, as one of the blast took place near a school. The state-run TV also aired a footage of the blast sites, showing scenes of destruction and carnage.

Members of the Kurdish asayesh security forces and onlookers inspect the site of a bomb attack targeting a Kurdish checkpoint on September 14, 2015 in the Khashman district, north of the eastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, mostly Kurdish-controlled. Pic/ AFP

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the first explosion rocked a checkpoint manned by Kurdish fighters, while the second one was caused by a booby-trapped vehicle that tore through an outpost of the pro-government National Defence Forces in central Hasakah. SANA accused the Islamic State (IS) militants of being behind the blasts, saying the terror-labelled group sent over 50 booby-trapped cars into Hasakah in recent months.

The Syrian foreign ministry also condemned the attacks, saying the terrorist groups want to "paralyze" the lives of the people and children by their suicide bombings. On June 25, IS militants unleashed a major offensive, storming the southern part of Hasakah. At the end of July, Syrian army and Kurdish fighters managed to drive the IS militants out of the province.