Bus bombing kills 15 in Syria’s Idlib

By Khaled Suleiman

IDLIB, Syria

At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province late Sunday, according to local sources.

A bomber blew himself up on a bus carrying opposition fighters at the entrance of Atmeh camp, the sources told Anadolu Agency.

“Fifteen people were killed and 20 others injured in the attack,” the sources added on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

It remains unclear whether the fatalities were civilians or opposition fighters.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.