Fuel tanker packed with explosives blows up killing at least 43 people and injures dozens in a suspected ISIS attack on civilians outside an Islamic courthouse in a rebel-held Syrian town.

 

A car bomb has killed at least 43 people, mostly civilians, in the rebel-held Syrian town of Azaz on the border with Turkey.

Dozens were also wounded in the attack on Saturday which struck in front of an Islamic courthouse near a market, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group said the toll was likely to rise in the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings to hit Azaz that have previously been blamed on ISIS.

Video footage obtained by MailOnline show children and women covered in blood racing from the blast zone.

Another man is seen running away from the smoke on fire. 

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said identification of the dead was being hampered by the fact that some bodies were completely burned in the blast.

Images the scene showed huge clouds of smoke rising from a street filled with debris and twisted metal, which bulldozers were working to clear.

 

In unverified comments, Turkey's privately-owned Dogan news agency said a car bomb planted by Islamic State was responsible.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the terror group.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency cited a doctor in Azaz as saying at least 60 people had been killed and more than 50 wounded.

An Azaz resident who went to the local hospital said he had counted around 30 bodies laid out.

The Britain-based group said six rebels were among the dead, but most were believed to be civilians.

In November, rebels said 25 people - civilians and opposition fighters - were killed in a car bomb attack on a rebel headquarters.

The rebels accused the Islamic State group of being behind that attack.

The jihadist group is present elsewhere in Aleppo province and has sought to advance on Azaz in the past.

 

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In October, at least 17 people were killed in a car bomb attack on a rebel checkpoint, the Observatory said.

The blast comes as a fragile ceasefire is being observed across much of Syria.

The truce negotiated by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey does not include the Islamic State group or former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.

More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.