IS accused of killing dozens in fuel truck attack on Syrian town

At least 48 people are reported to have been killed in a fuel tanker bomb attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Azaz on the border with Turkey.

Dozens were also wounded in the attack near a court complex and market area, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Graphic video footage posted on Youtube showed victims with burning clothes running from the blast.

Huge clouds of smoke can be seen rising from a street filled with debris and twisted metal, while fires burned in several vehicles.

Fourteen rebels were among the dead, but most casualties were believed to be civilians.

Osama al-Merhi, a lawyer who was at the scene of the blast, pointed the finger at IS.

"These kinds of crimes are only committed by the terrorist group Daesh," he said, using an Arabic name for IS.

"They are the ones who target civilians and the cadres who are building this country," he told AFP.

The group said the toll was likely to rise in the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings to hit Azaz, across the border from the Turkish town of Kilis.

An Azaz resident who went to the local hospital told the Reuters news agency he had counted around 30 bodies laid out.

Azaz is a major stronghold of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), an alliance of moderate rebel groups whose fighters have, with Turkish military support, pushed Islamic State militants out of the border area.

Turkish news agency Dogon said preparations were being made to receive casualties in Kilis hospital.

The rebels accused IS of being behind that attack.

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

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

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 government ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey does not include the Islamic State group or former al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

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