Two children among fatalities in Syrian market blast

Emergency services work at a building hit by an air strike in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, January 20, 2024. 

A car bomb has exploded in a busy market in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-based Syrian opposition fighters, killing at least three people.

Rescue workers said the bomb exploded in the town of Azaz in Aleppo province. Volunteers with the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said the blast, just after midnight on Sunday, killed two children and a woman.

The explosion that tore through the busy market also injured five civilians and destroyed shops and homes in the area, the paramedic group said.

First responders struggled to break through the large panicking crowds in the market, searching for casualties, clearing the wreckage, and putting out fires.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people were killed and 23 injured.