15 killed in Idlib twin blasts

Twin explosions in the bustling center of the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Monday killed at least 15 people and injured scores, medics and witnesses said.

They said an explosive device planted in a parked car detonated in a main street in the provincial capital. Many of the casualties were civil defense workers who reached the site moments before a second explosion nearby. That blast was attributed by some witnesses to a bomb rigged to a motorcycle.

Social media footage showed aid workers carrying away bodies and rescuing wounded civilians amid smoldering wreckage. Idlib province, in Syria’s northwest corner, is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a bloc of Islamist militant factions spearheaded by Syria’s former al Qaeda affiliate, and has long been targeted by bombings and assassinations.