War in Syria: Car bombs kill 26 people in Kurdish city Hassakeh

The bombers struck in two different Hassakeh neighborhoods

FILE PHOTO: The destruction left when a car bomb ripped through a crowded area of Syria's third city, Homs, last year (Getty)

A woman and her two children were among at least 20 people who died when two car bombs struck different parts of Hassakeh, a predominantly Kurdish city in north-eastern Syria.

Among the victims of the explosions in the city of Hassakeh were a woman and her two children and several Kurdish fighters, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Islamic State group said in a statement that its two suicide bombers targeted a gathering of Kurdish fighters and pro-regime militias.

The bombers struck in two different Hassakeh neighborhoods. The state news agency SANA said at least 21 died in the bombing in the busy Mahatta neighborhood. Bodies were pulled from under the rubble of a collapsed building, the agency said, adding that the number of victims was likely to rise.

The second bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in Khashman district on Hassakeh's northern outskirts, killing five people, including the woman and her children, SANA said.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage from the two-story building that collapsed in the al-Mahatta explosion, which also left a large crater in the street. A man is seen holding a victim and weeping. The TV later said that authorities dismantled two other car bombs in the province.

AP