Islamic State claimed a suicide bombing on a bus in Syria near the Atmeh border crossing with Turkey late on Sunday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed at least 32 people. The bus was carrying fighters from foreign-backed rebel factions, local rebel sources said.
Islamic State militant claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement on Sunday, saying the blast killed 50 fighters from the Failaq al-Sham and the Nour al-Din al-Zinki Movement groups.
The statement said the rebels were from US-backed groups who were travelling to fight Islamic State in northern Aleppo province.
Large parts of Syria’s north-western province of Idlib, where Atmeh is located, is controlled by rebel factions supported by the Turkish govt.
Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported that the fighters targeted on Sunday were part of a 600-strong force that had been preparing to advance towards the countryside north of the divided city of Aleppo.
On Monday, a Syrian military official and activists said government forces had repelled a rebel assault south-west of Aleppo, forcing rebel fighters to retreat from positions near a cement factory that they had seized the previous day.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory, which monitors the five-year-old conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said at least 35 rebels had been killed in the battle. Seventeen died on the government side, it added.
