Car bomb blasts in Syria kill 14

Damascus, Jan 11, 2015: At least 14 people were killed in two car bomb explosions in northern Syria Saturday, media reported. The attacks targeted checkpoints of Kurdish fighters and an Al Qaeda-linked group in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, Xinhua reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an information office opposed to the Syrian government. Ten people and two fighters of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front were reportedly killed in the first blast that struck a Nusra Front checkpoint in the town of Masqan in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The second explosion rocked a checkpoint manned by Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the Qatma area on the road connecting the predominantly Kurdish town of Afrin with the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo. Two YPG fighters were killed in the attack, according to the SOHR. Separate reports said that the attacks were carried out by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation, which is pitted against both the YPG and the Nusra Front.