String of bomb blasts across Syria, at least 48 killed

Damascus, Sep 5 (AFP) A string of bomb attacks hit acrossmostly government-controlled areas of Syria today, killing atleast 48 people, state media said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for one ofthe blasts, against a Kurdish security post in Hasakeh, butthere were no immediate claims for the other attacks inTartus, on government-held Homs city and at an army checkpointon a road outside Damascus. At least 48 people died in the multiple blasts, withdozens also wounded in the double bombing outside of Tartuscity, which is home to a Russian naval base. In Tartus, two blasts targeted the Arzuna bridge, "thefirst a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonatedhis explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded,"according to state television. Quoting the head of Al-Bassel hospital in Tartus, thechannel said 35 people had been killed and 43 others woundedin the attack. Tartus has been largely spared the worst violence ofSyria’s conflict since it began with anti-government protestsin March 2011. It has become a refuge for many Syrians fleeing thefighting that has displaced more than half the country’spopulation. In the northeast of the country, at least eight peoplewere killed by a bomber on a motorbike in the city of Hasakeh,which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, though theregime is also present. Syrian state media said the dead were six members of theAsayesh security forces and two civilians. IS claimed the attack in a statement circulated on socialmedia. Hasakeh city has been regularly targeted by IS, includingin July when a motorcycle bomber killed at least 16 peopleoutside a bakery in the city. Monday’s bombings came after advances by Turkish forcesand allied Syrian rebels expelled IS from the last stretch ofthe Syrian-Turkish border under their control. The jihadist group has been losing ground to both analliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the SyrianDemocratic Forces and, more recently, to a Turkish offensiveinvolving rebels loyal to Ankara. In central Homs city, state media said at least fourpeople were killed in a car bomb at the entrance to Al-Zahraa,a neighbourhood whose residents mostly belong to the sameAlawite sect as Assad. Al-Zahraa has also been regularly targeted in attacks,including a devastating double bomb blast in February thatkilled 57 people and was claimed by IS. (AFP)UZM