QAMISHLO, Syria,— A massive bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 44 people including civilians on Wednesday in the main Kurdish city of Qamishli, the Syrian state TV said.

The official SANA news agency said at least 140 people were also injured when a suicide bomber in a vehicle blew himself up in a western neighbourhood of the city.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic State group, in a statement published by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency, said it carried out the attack in Qamishlo, describing it as a truck bombing that struck a complex of Kurdish offices. The extremist group has carried out several bombings in Kurdish areas in Syrian Kurdistan in the past.

It was the largest and deadliest attack to hit the city since the beginning of Syria’s conflict in March 2011.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor gave a toll of 48 dead, adding that children and women were among those killed.

Kurdish officials said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck.

The blast was initially described as a double bombing, but local officials and the Observatory said the bomb had detonated a nearby fuel container, leading to reports of a second explosion.

The area targeted houses several ministries of the local autonomous Kurdish administration of Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Qamishli resident Suleiman Youssef, a writer, told AP by telephone that he heard the first explosion from few miles away. He said the blasts leveled several buildings to the ground and many people were trapped under the rubble.

“Most of the buildings at the scene of the explosion have been heavily damaged because of the strength of the blast,” he said.

Jazeera Canton Interior Council Co-President Kenan Bereket who spoke to Ronahi TV on the deadly truck bomb attack that hit the Qamishlo city this morning said that more than 50 people lost their lives and many others were wounded, ANF reported.

Heyva Sor a Kurd teams affiliated to Jazeera Canton Health Council are making an examination at the scene of the attack near Gharbi Asayish (Public Security) Center.

The Kurdish Asayesh security forces told AFP “this is the largest explosion the city has ever seen.”

The area targeted houses several Kurdish administration buildings including the defence ministry and was considered a secure zone, with multiple checkpoints and security measures in place.

“This blast is the biggest in Qamishlo in terms of both the toll and the damage since the beginning of the war,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Local officials said hospitals in the city had been swamped with casualties from the attack.

The powerful Kurdish fighters have been a key force battling the IS jihadists in north and northeastern Syria and are the main component in the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance currently seeking to oust IS from Manbij.

They are backed by air strikes launched by the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

Qamishlo, near the Turkish border, is mainly controlled by Kurds but Syrian Assad government forces are present and control the city’s airport.

(With files from AFP | AP | ANF)