Car bombing kills at least 21 in Syria’s Azaz: Monitor

AZAZ-Agence France-Presse

At least 21 people were killed June 2 in a car bomb near a bustling market and mosque in Azez in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.

Four children were among those killed in the explosion in Azaz near the border with Turkey in the province of Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attack also wounded more than 45 people, according to the Britain-based monitor.

“Many people were leaving evening prayers when the explosion happened,” Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.

Shoppers buying clothes and gifts ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday were among those killed, said Jihad Berro, a coroner at a local hospital.

He said the medical facility was crammed with victims and their relatives.

“The emergency rooms were full, we placed corpses on the floor,” he said.

“It is a real catastrophe before the Eid al-Fitr holiday,” which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, said Berro.

An AFP photographer saw a large crowd gathering at the scene of the attack, charred vehicles dotting the side of the road.

Rescue workers searched through mounds of rubble, looking for bodies, he said.

Resident Abu Youssef said the explosion torched the neighbourhood.

“The damage is severe: at least six stores were burned, the storefronts of dozens of other stores were blown out,” he told AFP.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, which came a day after a similar explosion killed 10 people and wounded 20 in the northeastern city of Raqqa.