Insurgents in Syria’s northwest kill at least 9 soldiers as fighting surges in other areas

By BASSEM MROUE and HOGIR AL ABDO
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Opposition activists say al-Qaida-linked militants have attacked an army position in northwest Syria, killing at least nine government soldiers and wounding others. There was no immediate word from the government on Friday’s attack. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said nine soldiers were killed as well as one of the attackers, who belong to the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in northwest Syria. The attack came less than a week after a similar attack killed and wounded 30 government troops in the last major rebel stronghold in the northwest.