World Bulletin/News Desk

At least 40 people including women and children have been killed in a car bomb blast in northern Syrian city of Idlib, according to local sources.

A bomb-laden vehicle exploded in Atmeh town in Idlib, leaving 40 people dead and 60 others wounded, sources told Anadolu Agency on Saturday. 

Ten of the critically injured have been taken to the Turkish province of Hatay on the Syrian border.

Syria has been gripped by fighting since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March, 2011, triggering a conflict that has spiraled into a civil war.

The UN has stopped updating its death toll for the country because an official count has become too difficult to verify. At least 100,000 deaths were recorded in the last official count, in July 2013.