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Twin blasts hit Nowruz celebrations in Syria, causing heavy casualties

Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Two explosions targeted Kurdish gatherings celebrating the Nowruz festivity in Syria's northern province of al-Hasakah on Friday, killing and injuring at least 100 people, a monitoring group reported.

The twin bombings targeted civilian gatherings during the Nowruz celebrations in the al-Mufti neighborhood in this predominantly-Kurdish province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the blasts were carried out by a suicide bomber with the Islamic State (IS) group, and an explosive device.

Meanwhile, Kurdish activists reported the blasts, placing the death toll among the civilian Kurds at 20.

Clashes have recently been raging between the IS and the Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the countryside of al-Hasakah after the Kurdish fighters dislodged the IS from the key border city of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, earlier this year.

Kurds in Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon and Iranians mark Nowruz on March 21 every year. The feast, which symbolizes purification of the soul, dates back to the pre-Islamic religion of Zoroastrianism. Endit