News / Syria

Blast kills dozens of Turkey-backed militants in Syria

Thursday, 06 October 2016 8:46 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 06 October 2016 10:42 AM ]

Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants are seen in the border town of Jarablus, Syria, August 31, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

More than two dozen Turkish-backed militants have been killed in a powerful bomb blast that ripped through their gathering in Syria’s northern province of Idlib on Thursday.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast took place near the Atmeh border crossing on Thursday morning.

Witnesses in the area said the bombing claimed at least 29 lives and wounded many more.

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing in the northwestern Syrian village.

The so-called Free Syrian Army militants are Turkey's proteges in Syria, with a mission to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In August, Turkish ground forces and the militants stormed the strategic Syrian city of Jarablus after Daesh terrorists left without resistance.

This picture taken around 5 kilometers west from the Turkish border city of Karkamis on August 25, 2016 shows Turkish army soldiers gathering next to tanks. (Photo by AFP)

The offensive was launched in coordination with the US which is supporting a group of Kurdish militants in Syria.

The incursion was the first major Turkish military intervention in Syria which has denounced it for violating the Arab country's territorial integrity.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told English-language France 24 television news network last month that his country planned a deeper military incursion into northern Syria.

While Ankara has tried to project its incursion as a campaign against Daesh, many observers say it is chiefly aimed against Syrian Kurds and staking out a foothold inside Syria.

Turkey has long been criticized for refusing to seriously fight Takfiri terrorists. The country stands accused of allowing potential militants to use its territory for travel and shipment of arms into Syria and buying smuggled oil from terrorists.

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