Syria arms depot blasts kill 12, wounds more than 100: monitor

Multiple explosions occurred at a weapons and ammunition warehouse belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party

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A series of explosions killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 100 at a weapons depot in northwestern Syria on Thursday, a monitor said.

"Multiple blasts at a weapons and ammunition warehouse belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 100 in Maaret Misrin, in northern Idlib province," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Those killed included a woman and a child, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.

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The TIP is a jihadist group active in the Idlib region made up of Uighur fighters who joined the Syrian civil war to fight against former president Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's health ministry had reported four deaths and 116 wounded in the blasts, in a preliminary toll published by the official news agency SANA.

Authorities did not immediately say what may have caused the explosions.

AFP images showed a huge plume of white smoke over the town, where several children were among the injured.