2 explosions kill 16 people in north

“The people of Qamishli are living in a state of anxiety because of these fierce terrorist attacks, unprecedented for the city, particularly on the eve of New Year holiday”, said The Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights, a local monitoring group, in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Qamishli, the largest city under Kurdish control in Hasakah, has a historically large Christian population that has previously come under attack by Islamic State.

Kurdish news outlet Rudraw reported on Wednesday that two bombs were detonated near restaurants in a predominantly Christian quarter of Qamishli, which lies near the border with Turkey and close to Iraq.

There have also been reports of a third blast. The extremists have suffered some of their worst setbacks in battles with Kurdish fighters in Syria, and have carried out dozens of suicide attacks against the Kurds, including several in Qamishli.

Amaq news agency, which supports the so-called “Islamic State” (IS), said shortly after the attacks that the militant group had claimed responsibility. “At least 9 persons were killed and more than 25 injured”.

According to the Observatory, all three of the restaurant explosions happened in a zone controlled by government forces.

In October, the YPG joined a US-backed alliance to fight IS, which has been attempting to advance in the region. It succeeded in forcing IS out of a town near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The city is under shared control of YPG and regime forces.