Islamic State suicide bombers on Sunday blew up an explosive- laden truck near a power plant that serves the northeastern city of Hasaka, the latest attack after their expulsion from most parts of the city, the Syrian army said. State television said a second attack, against a power plant that serves the southern districts of the city, was prevented, but the first had caused "material damage" and led to "casualties". It did not elaborate. The ultra-hardline militants continue to stage lighting attacks inside the city, although they were driven out of some districts after they mounted a major offensive that failed last month. That offensive attempted to capture the provincial capital of the oil and grain producing province of Syria. The city is divided into zones run separately by the government of President Bashar al Assad and a Kurdish administration. The offensive was meant to relieve pressure on IS, which has given up significant ground recently to Kurds and some local Arab tribes backing them. The militants lost villages around Ras Al Ayn and the town of Tal Abyad northwest of Hasaka along the Turkish border. The northeastern corner of Syria is strategically important because it links areas controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Syrian Kurds have also sought to expand their territorial control over a region stretching from Kobani to Qamishili, which they see as part of a future Kurdish state. source: Reuters
