1st LD: Blast rocks northern Syrian town

A booby-trapped car ripped through a northern Syrian town near Turkey on Sunday, killing at least one and left many wounded, in what activists said was a blast carried out by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said the explosion was the result of a car bomb that went off in the town of al-Rai, which is controlled by the Turkey-backed Euphrates Shield forces, in the countryside of the northern province of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, other Aleppo-based activists said that 12 civilians, including 10 children, have been taken to hospitals inside Turkey after sustaining injuries in the blast.

The Local Coordination Committees activists said at least one child was killed in the bombing.

Other activists said the car bomb ripped through one of the checkpoints of the Euphrates Shield in the town.

The Ankara-backed group has been making some progress against the IS in northern Syria, with the latest attempt to storm the city of al-Bab, the last IS-held city in northern Aleppo, and the gate for the IS out and inside Syria.

Pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said Sunday that clashes were raging between the Turkish-backed groups and the IS west of al-Bab.

Turkey has been backing the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups under a campaign called the Euphrates Shield to secure areas in northern Syria from the IS and to cut the road before the Kurdish-led rebels can link areas under their control in northern Syria, a progress deemed by Turkey as a redline. Endit