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Syria

Blast in northern Syria kills at least 44

Doug Stanglin
USA TODAY

At least 44 people were killed and 140 injured Wednesday in an explosion in the northern Syrian town of Qamishli near the Turkish border, Syrian state media reported.

The government-controlled SANA agency said a car bomb was used in the attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said the explosion was a truck bomb that went off near Kurdish security headquarters.

It said a second explosion, initially thought to be a bomb, turned out to be a fuel tank that supplies a neighborhood power station.

The Islamic State extremist group, which has carried out previous bombings against Kurds in the area, claimed responsibility for the attack, the BBC reported.

State TV showed pictures of widespread destruction caused by the explosion. SANA quoted medical sources in the city as saying many of the wounded sustained severe injuries, raising the likelihood that the death toll will increase.

A witness said the blast was so powerful it shattered windows in stores in Nusaybin, the Turkish town directly across the border, Reuters reported.

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