Thousands of Syrians have been displaced from other former rebel areas across Syria (AFP)
Two people, including an employee of the International Rescue Committee, were killed on Thursday in northwest Syria after a car bomb exploded outside a relief centre.
The blast hit close to the IRC aid facility that gives aid to displaced Syrians in the area of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib, IRC said.
Opposition groups control the majority of Idlib, with parts held by a coalition of groups led by Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria and others controlled by rival groups.
An IRC security guard, Abdulqadir Saeed al-Ghafri, was among the dead.
The 38-year-old was married with four children and had himself displaced from the northern city of Aleppo.
"This terrible incident is a stark reminder of the great risk taken by IRC staff and other aid workers to help the Syrian people," IRC Middle East director Mark Schnellbaecher said.
This morning an IRC staff member, Abdulqadir Saeed Al-Ghafri, was killed in a car bomb attack outside an IRC center in Idlib, Syria. Aid workers are not – and must never be – a target. Our statement: https://t.co/xAzwvqeED0 … #NotATargetpic.twitter.com/JcaN9HEdt7
— IRC Intl Rescue Comm (@theIRC) May 3, 2018
"Aid workers are not, and must never be a target," he said.
In recent months, several explosions have rocked Idlib province, which has witnessed infighting between competing groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
The most prominent armed group is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda branch.
The Syrian government also recently bombed opposition areas across Idlib and other areas controlled by groups opposed to the Syrian government.
Syria's war has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.
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