This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/27/dozens-dead-in-syria-bomb-blast-qamishli

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Dozens dead in Syria bomb blast Starvation fears for Aleppo as bomb kills dozens in north Syria
(about 4 hours later)
An Islamic State truck bomb has killed at least 44 people, wounded dozens more and flattened several buildings in a largely Kurdish town in northern Syria, human rights groups and state media have reported. An Islamic State truck bomb has killed nearly 50 people in north Syria, and aid groups have warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians face starvation in Aleppo as government forces tighten a siege on the city.
The blast in Qamishli was so powerful that it shattered windows and caused minor injuries across the border in Turkey. It was followed by a second motorcycle bomb a few minutes later, the Associated Press reported. Roads into Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the war, had already been virtually impassible since early July when troops loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, moved within firing range of the last supply corridor.
Video footage showed people fleeing blazing rubble before a second explosion sent them diving for cover. Those forces are now in full control of the road, the state Sana news agency reported, the day after texts were sent asking residents of rebel-held areas to leave and urging fighters to lay down their weapons.
A strategic border post under joint control of Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters, the town has been targeted by Isis several times before, although this is the deadliest bomb assault yet. “Today there is no way at all to bring anything into Aleppo,” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters.
A suicide blast killed six members of the Kurdish internal security force, known as the Asayish, in April. In July, an Isis suicide bomb killed at least 16 people in Hasaka. Government troops have repeatedly used sieges to help starve rebel-held cities into submission. Human rights groups fear the tactic will be deployed in Aleppo, where up to 300,000 people are living in areas under rebel control.
Isis said the truck bomb targeted Kurdish military offices. Kurdish forces are leading the ground campaign against Isis further west, in Aleppo province. Food will run out within weeks, a group of 24 aid agencies working on the ground warned, and regime bombing raids have targeted several of the few remaining working hospitals in those parts of the city.
Suleiman Youssef, a writer and Qamishli resident, said that he heard the first explosion from a few miles away. He said the blasts levelled several buildings to the ground, and that many people were trapped under the rubble. “Supplies are quickly running out and women, children and men will begin to starve unless the armed parties on the ground are made to open the way for humanitarian aid,” said Save the Children’s Syria director, Sonya Khush.
“Most of the buildings at the scene of the explosion have been heavily damaged because of the strength of the blast,” he said. “The parties responsible for this are in the meantime feeling bolder in committing their violations,” she added, warning that bombing raids had targeted civilian infrastructure and supplies.
A food warehouse with almost 10,000 parcels was destroyed, and fuel needed to power medical facilities and water pumps was running dangerously low, the charities warned, and Unicef said medical facilities were also targeted.
“Four hospitals in eastern Aleppo city ... and a blood bank were reportedly hit several times on 23 and 24 July disrupting key life-saving health,” the UN agency said. “Health facilities in Syria are being attacked with alarming ferocity.”
There were two bombing raids in under 12 hours on the only working paediatric hospital in the city. A two-day-old baby was among the casualties.
Earlier this week, the United Nations called for regular 48-hour ceasefires in the city to allow food and other assistance in, amid rising concern about the plight of civilians.
Related: US military opens formal investigation into deadly July airstrike in Syria
On Wednesday, the US military announced that it was launching a formal investigation into an airstrike on 19 July in which scores of people are thought to have been killed. The death toll in an attack near the besieged city of Manbij remains disputed but the UK-based monitoring group Airwars has concluded that at least 74 people died.
The UN’s top Syria envoy also said this week that it hoped to restart soon intermittent peace talks aimed at ending the five-year war . They collapsed in April, partly because of intensifying violence around Aleppo.
The scale and intensity of the fighting have proved a huge challenge for aid groups, often forced to work through intermediaries in areas that are extremely dangerous to operate in even for experienced organisations
Fears of a looming humanitarian disaster in Aleppo come as the US revealed it had suspended more $200m (£150m) of aid projects, providing food, shelter and medical support to Syrians, because of corruption fears.
The Isis truck bomb launched a few hundred miles east of Aleppo, in the strategic border town of Qamishli, was the bloodiest attack yet on a town that has been a frequent target for Isis militants.
Wednesday’s explosion was so powerful it shattered windows and caused minor injuries inside Turkey. Video footage showed people fleeing blazing rubble before a second explosion, reportedly from a fuel tank that caught fire, sent them diving for cover.
Qamishli is under joint control of Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters, and Isis said the truck bomb targeted Kurdish military offices. Kurdish forces are leading the ground campaign against Isis further west, currently focused on a push for the city of Manbij.
Suleiman Youssef, a writer and Qamishli resident, said that he heard the first explosion from a few miles away. He told AP the blasts levelled several buildings to the ground, and that many people were trapped under the rubble.
The predominantly Kurdish, US-backed Syria Democratic Forces has been the main force fighting Isis in northern Syria. It has captured significant territory from the extremists in the past two years.The predominantly Kurdish, US-backed Syria Democratic Forces has been the main force fighting Isis in northern Syria. It has captured significant territory from the extremists in the past two years.
Wednesday’s explosion came as US-backed Kurdish forces pressed ahead with their offensive to take the Isis-held town of Manbij, to the east of Qamishli in Syria.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army said it had cut off all supply routes to the eastern, rebel-held part of Aleppo.
An advance by pro-government forces around the only remaining supply route into the eastern sector this month enabled them to fire on it at close range, making the battlefront Castello road too deadly to use and putting at least 250,000 people in rebel-held districts under siege.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern parts of Aleppo had been under effective siege since 11 July, and that advances in recent days by pro-government forces had strengthened their control of the only route into the city.