At Least 43 Killed in Car Bombing in Syria

(Photo: AFP)

At least 43 people were killed on Saturday when a car bomb went off in a busy market in a rebel-held Syrian town along the Turkish border, activists and rescue workers said.

The explosion ripped through the central market in the town of Azaz in the northern province of Aleppo, damaging a government building and local court house.

Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said those killed included six opposition fighters. He said the explosion was caused by a rigged water or fuel tanker, which explains the large blast and high death toll.

Other activist groups, including the Azaz Media Center, put the death toll at 50, adding that search and rescue operations continued for at least two hours after the explosion. The Observatory said the explosion took place near the local court house operated by rebel groups.

Media activist Baha al-Halabi, based in Aleppo province, who gathered information from people in Azaz said witnesses said there were many unidentified bodies because of the strength of the explosion.

(Photo Courtesy: @Sophiemcneill)

Images shared online showed a huge plume of black smoke rising above the chaotic market and sounds of gunfire echoing in the background as onlookers gathered around the site.

(Photo Courtesy: @Sophiemcneill)

Many rebels and civilians who were pushed out of Aleppo city during a massive government offensive late last year resettled in Azaz.

Azaz is situated in the swathe of northern Syria recently captured from the Islamic State terror group by Turkish-backed legions of the Free Syrian Army rebel group.