An attack by al-Qaida-allied group in northwest Syria kills, wounds dozens of troops, activists say

BEIRUT (AP) — Opposition activists say insurgents in northwest Syria have attacked a government position killing and wounding more than 30 troops. Saturday’s attack came days after Russian and Syrian warplanes carried out several airstrikes on the last major rebel stronghold in the northwest killing several insurgents. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the al-Qaida-allied Ansar al-Tawhid group, carried out the attack and that 11 soldiers were killed and 20 wounded. Syria’s 12-year conflict that started with anti-government protests then morphed into a civil war killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.