Bomb kills 27 in Syria askidnapped aid workers freed

A CAR bomb killed dozens of people in rebel- held northwestern Syria on Monday as suspected jihadists freed four out of seven aid workers kidnapped in the increasingly volatile region. The bombing and abductions came as the United States stepped up its calls for a peace conference between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its Western-backed opponents, who are divided over the initiative. The United Nations said, meanwhile, that "the race is on" to make sure Syria keeps to deadlines to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution. The blast in the town of Darkush killed at least 27 people, including three children and a woman, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding the death toll could rise because many of the wounded were in serious condition. Activists said the blast targeted the market area of the town, which is a few kilometres (miles) from the border with Turkey, on the Orontes river. Four of the kidnapped aid workers were meanwhile freed, International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Ewan Watson said, adding the organisation was awaiting further information about the others. The Observatory said an Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group -- the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -- kidnaped the six Red Cross staff and a volunteer from the Syrian Red Crescent. The ICRC has not commented on the nationality of those abducted, though it has said most of the group were Syrian. There has been no claim of responsibility. Rebels control large swathes of Idlib, and kidnappings have become increasingly common in rebel-held parts of Syria, targeting both journalists and aid workers. The Red Cross, one of the few organisations able to deliver aid nationwide, said the team had travelled to Idlib on October 10 to assess the situation at health facilities and deliver aid. "We don't have any intention of stopping our activities in Syria, but of course this situation makes us reflect and take a close look at our operations," Watson had earlier told Swiss radio.