40 fighters of the Ahrar al-Sham militant group, including some commanders, were killed and more than 150 other wounded in a double-tap suicide attack that targeted its headquarters in the village of Tal al-Touqan in the eastern Idlib countryside.
Initially, a suicide bomber targeted a Ahrar al-Sham commanders meeting at the headquarters. Minutes after the first explosion, a motorcycle exploded at the entrance to the headquarters.
According to local sources, Egyptian commanders of Ahrar al-Sham were among the killed. In 2016, the Egyptian Intelligence accused the movement of training terrorist elements in Sudan with the aim of launching terrorist operations inside Egypt.
It is believed that Ali al-Omar “Abu Ammar,” the leader of Ahrar al-Sham was attending the meeting, but he was not killed or this has at least not been announced so far.
On Twitter, the head of the judiciary in Ahrar al-Sham “Ahmad Muhammad Najib” accused ISIS organization of standing behind the suicide attack.
ISIS killed Hassan Abboud, the leader and founder of Ahrar al-Sham, with a similar attack on 9 September 2014.
Ahrar al-Sham is classified as a terrorist group by the Syrian government, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, and some other countries. The USA refuses to recongize it as a terrorist group.
Photos from the scene:
