Damascus, March 21 (IANS): Two explosions targeted Kurds celebrating Nowruz, or the Persian new year, in Syria on Friday causing heavy casualties.

The blasts killed and injured at least 100 people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a group monitoring the war in Syria, according to a Xinhua report.

The twin bombings targeted civilian gatherings during Nowruz celebrations in the al-Mufti neighbourhood in the predominantly Kurdish province al-Hasakah, said the SOHR.

The Britain-based watchdog said that the blasts were carried out by a suicide bomber of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

However, according to Kurdish activists 20 civilian Kurds were killed in the blasts.

Clashes have been raging between the IS and the Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the countryside of al-Hasakah after the Kurds dislodged the IS from the key border city of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, earlier this year.

Kurds in Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon and Iranians mark Nowruz on March 21 every year. The feast, which symbolises purification of the soul, dates back to the pre-Islamic religion of Zoroastrianism.