BEIRUT: A car bombing blamed on the militant Islamic State (IS) group killed at least 26 displaced people in eastern Syria on Friday, the Syrian Obser­vatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The Britain-based monitor said 12 children were among the victims of the attack on a gathering at a checkpoint run by US-backed fighters in Deir Ezzor province.

The militants are losing ground there to two separate offensives that have come close to ousting IS from Syria.

“Dozens of people were wounded, and the death toll could rise because of the number of serious injuries,” said Observatory dire­ctor Rami Abdel Rahman.

The displaced people had been on their way to neighbouring Hasakeh province, where camps have been set up to house them in Kurdish-controlled territory, Abdel Rahman said.

Syria’s state news agency SANA also reported an IS car bombing targeting “a gathering of displaced families from Deir Ezzor”, giving a toll of 20 dead and 30 wounded.

10 killed in shelling

Meanwhile, shelling by the regime forces on the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus killed at least 10 civilians, among them six children, the yrian Obser­vatory for Human Rights said.

The deaths were the result of the latest bout in an escalating cycle of tit-for-tat attacks between regime forces and the rebels holding the enclave on the Syrian capital’s eastern outskirts.

According to the observatory, a total of 43 civilians have been killed in the process, most of them in Eastern Ghouta, which has been besieged since 2013 and where humanitarian conditions are dire.

Seven people, including five children, were killed in regime shelling and air strikes in Douma, the main town in the Eastern Ghouta area, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017