The Islamic State jihadist group has taken credit for a bombing outside a a bakery in the northeast Syrian city of al-Hasaka that killed 16 people on Tuesday including three children and two women.
The pro-IS Amaq news agency said that the suicide attack was carried out by two 'jihadists' adding that it claimed lives of “35 Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units”, referring to the Kurdish YPG militia.
But local sources and Kurdish officials said the attack had targeted civilians at a bakery in the Kurdish neighbourhood of Salihiya and denied that YPG forces were killed in the blast.
The suicide bombing came after two days of clashes between the Syrian army and Kurdish police forces in the mostly Kurdish controlled city.
YPG forces are taking part in a US backed offensive that has advanced against the jihadists further west, close to the Turkish border.
