6 IS suicide bombers go off in Syria's Idlib

DAMASCUS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Six suicide bombers with the ISlamic State (IS) group detonated their explosives while being hunted down from a rival rebel group in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, a war monitor reported on Sunday.

The bombers were hunted down by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group after escaping the Idlib central prISon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The bombing was coupled with clashes between the IS militants and the HTS members, which led to the death of a child.

The HTS, which IS the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, controls the entire Idlib area.

A day earlier, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces declared eliminating the IS group in eastern Syria and the end of the self-declared caliphate in Syria.

The bombings reported on Sunday proves that the IS still has sleeper cells capable of carrying out attacks and bombings in the country despite the defeat of their physical entity in Syria.