Suicide bomber hits Kurdish security agency in Syria: monitor

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Wednesday’s explosion happened outside a local Kurdish police station in the town of Qamishli.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, told SANA that Asaad’s body was later taken to Palmyra’s archaeological site and hung from one of the Roman columns.

An Islamic State statement named the suicide bomber as Abu Mohamed al-Ansari and said he had detonated a tanker truck.

The militant group has targeted Qamishli and other Kurdish bastions with suicide operations in the past. More than 222,000 people have so far been killed in the crisis.

According to a local journalist, the blast could be heard throughout the city.

“There is a lot of destruction – the buildings on at least two streets have been completely destroyed”, he said. In July, the convoys of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Asayish were targeted.

Residents said civilians and members of Kurdish forces were among the dead in the blast, which was heard up to 5 kilometres away. On Sunday, almost 100 people were killed in regime air strikes on the town of Douma.