IED event in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Qamishli area, Syrian Arab Republic on Mon 17th June 2019

Several people have lost their lives or sustained injuries when a powerful explosion ripped through a residential area in Syria’s Kurdish-populated northeastern city of Qamishli on the border with Turkey.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that a car rigged with explosives went off in the Kaddour Beek district of the city, situated 680 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus, on Monday afternoon, without mentioning the number of casualties.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the explosion took place at around 1:30 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) in front of the local headquarters of the Kurdish police force, known as Asayish.

The Britain-based Observatory said the bomber “tried to reach the headquarters of Kurdish security forces, but surrounding checkpoints and obstacles prevented him from doing so.”

“When Kurdish security forces became suspicious of the vehicle, one of its passengers ran away while a second detonated the explosive,” it added.

The group added that at least seven civilians, including three women and a boy, were injured in the act of terror.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.