Scores killed in explosion targeting hospital in northern Syria

A truck bomb exploded outside a hospital in the town of Al-Ra’ie in northern Syria, killing 12 people, the latest in a series of attacks in the area.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

16 September, 2019

The deadly explosion caused a great amount of damage to the hospital [Getty]

A large truck bomb exploded on Saturday outside a hospital in the northern Syrian town of Al-Raie, killing 12 people, some of them children.

Al-Ra’ie is in the Operation Euphrates Shield area in northern Aleppo province, along the Syrian-Turkish border, and has been controlled by Turkish forces and Turkish-allied Syrian rebel groups since 2016.

A source from the opposition’s Aleppo Province Medical Directorate told The New Arab that at least 20 people were injured in the bombing, adding that “the explosion caused a great amount of damage to a pharmacy near the hospital”

Recently, dozens of people have been killed in similar explosions in the cities of Al-Bab, A’zaz, and Jarabulus, which are all also in the Operation Euphrates Shield area.

No group has claimed responsibility but before 2016, the area was under the control of the Islamic State militant group [IS] and is also frequently attacked by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who oppose the Turkish presence in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced since the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011, mostly as a result of regime bombardment of civilian homes and facilities.

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