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20 Syrian insurgents dead in Islamic State-sponsored bomb attack

Rebel fighters (L) carry their weapons and belongings as they talk to Syrian army soldiers. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed more than 20 Syrian insurgents at a headquarters for the powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham group on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Two blasts hit the base in a village east of Saraqeb in Idlib province, the British-based Observatory reported.

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Ahrar al-Sham said in a statement a lone attacker had driven a motorbike up to the building, detonating explosives attached to himself and a bomb on the bike at the same time, killing and wounding dozens of rebels.

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Photos on social media showed bloodied corpses and a blackened motorbike outside a small building in the village. The pictures could not immediately be verified.

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Islamic State, which claimed the attack via its Amaq online news service, is opposed to all sides in Syria’s six-year civil war, including Syrian insurgent groups.

Idlib, a rebel stronghold, has also seen fighting between insurgent factions separate from battles with Islamic State.

Clashes earlier this year pitted groups aligned with Ahrar al-Sham against groups that joined the al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance.

Syrian government forces have taken advantage of rebel infighting, particularly a separate spat further south near Damascus, to recapture territory from insurgents in the six-year conflict.

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