2nd LD Writethru: UN chief slams deadly attacks in northeast Syria

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned "heinous attacks" targeting Nowruz celebrations in northeast Syria, which reportedly left up to 100 people killed and injured, including women and children.

"Initial report suggest that two separate bombings killed and injured up to 100 persons, including women and children," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesman on Friday night. "These heinous attacks took place during a holiday that is customarily a time for Kurdish communities to come together to share their hopes for the new year."

The twin attacks targeted civilian festival gatherings in the al-Mufti community in the predominantly Kurdish province of al-Hasakah.

According to the statement, Ban took note of the reports linking the attacks to the Islamic State extremist group and stressed that the radicals should not be allowed to stir up ethnic divisions in Syria, where the terrorists have been active since 2012.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group, said the blasts were carried out by a suicide bomber with the Islamic State group.

Clashes have recently been raging between the IS and the Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units 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.

"The secretary-general extends his deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured," the statement said.

"The terrorist organization's despicable agenda includes efforts to incite sectarian and ethnic division among Syria's diverse communities," the statement said, referring to the IS. "It must not be allowed to succeed."

The IS has seized vast areas in Iraq and Syria, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate on all the territories under its control and forcing thousands of people, mostly member of ethnic and religious minorities, to flee.

"The secretary-general reiterates his condemnation of all acts of violence against civilians in Syria, and his demand that all sides in this brutal conflict stop the use of indiscriminate weapons in populated areas," the statement said.

Earlier Friday, Syrian state news agency SANA also reported a "terrorist" attack in al-Hasakah that killed and wounded many civilians and damaged homes, shops and cars.

Al-Hasakah is a strategic province near Syria's borders with Iraq and Turkey. The IS controls several parts of the province while fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units hold the provincial capital, which is also called al-Hasakah.

The Kurdish fighters are sworn enemies of the IS, which they expelled from the border town of Kobane in January after four months of fierce fighting with help from allied airstrikes. Endi