Explosion at weapons depot kills 39 civilians, injures dozen in Syrian town

A monitoring group says at least 39 civilians, including 12 children, have lost their lives and dozens of others sustained injuries when a powerful explosion ripped through a weapons depot in Syria’s militant-held northwestern province of Idlib.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), said the blast occurred in a residential building in town of Sarmada near the border with Turkey, and caused two buildings to collapse.

Abdel Rahman highlighted that the death toll was expected to further rise as scores of people remained trapped under rubble and tens of people remain unaccounted for.

The Observatory added that the ammunition depot belonged to an arms dealer working with the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, terrorist group, and was situated in the Bab al-Hawa neighborhood of Sarmada.

Most of Idlib is controlled by Tahrir al-Sham Takfiri terrorists, but Daesh terror group also has sleeper cells in the area.

A series of explosions and assassinations, mainly targeting high-ranking militant commanders and members of terror outfits, have rocked the province in recent months.

While Daesh has claimed responsibility for some attacks, they are mostly the result of infighting among rival militant groups.

Around 2.5 million people live in Idlib province, and half of the residents have been displaced by foreign-sponsored militancy in other parts of Syria.

Press TV