At least 26 people, most of them rebels, were killed on Wednesday by a car bomb in northern Syria, a monitoring group said.
The bomb struck the Aleppo province town of Jarablos, a scene of fierce fighting in recent days between the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and rival rebels, Agence France-Presse reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were three civilians among the dead. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP it was likely the incident "was a suicide attack staged by ISIL," adding that it came after jihadists lost turf to rival rebels in the town.
There had actually been two car bomb attacks within minutes of each other in Jarablos, Activists in Aleppo province said.
"Two car bomb attacks struck Jarablos, one near the agriculture school, the other near the prison," said Nazeer al-Khatib, a citizen journalist with grassroots network Shahba Press.
Khatib said that both sites were being used by rebels fighting ISIL as bases. Since Monday night, Jarablos, previously under ISIL control, has come under a heavy offensive by moderate and Islamist rebels.
According to AFP, Jarablos is important because it is located on the Turkish border, with a frontier post. A fierce offensive attack has been waged since January 3 by the Islamic Front, the Syrian Revolutionaries' Front and the Mujahideen Army against ISIL in several areas of northern Syria, AFP reported.
The jihadists have recaptured total control of Raqa province to the east while local rebels have advanced against ISIL in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
The rebels were warned by ISIL commander Abul Baraa on January 6 about how his groups would stage suicide attacks against them is they refused to cease their offensive. He was killed earlier on Wednesday in a rebel attack in Idlib province, AFP reported.
