ISIS car bomb kills at least 51 at rebel checkpoint in Syria

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By BNO NEWS

More than 50 people have been killed, most of them civilians, and others are injured after a car bomb exploded at a security checkpoint controlled by rebels in northwest Syria. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

The attack happened on Friday morning when an explosives-laden vehicle was detonated at a security checkpoint in the village of Sousian, just 8 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of al-Bab. The checkpoint had been set up by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels.

The activist monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 51 people had been killed, including 34 civilians. It said some of those injured had been critically injured and the death toll is expected to rise.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, claiming in a statement that it had targeted a gathering of Turkish soldiers and “apostates”. There was no information to confirm the group’s claim that Turkish soldiers were at the scene.

The car bombing came less than a day after Turkey-backed rebels drove Islamic State militants out of al-Bab. Many of the civilians who had gathered at the checkpoint in Sousian were seeking to return to al-Bab, which had been under ISIS occupation since early 2014.

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