The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Hadaya hotel in Qamishli, killing five people, including three women.

The attack was also reported by state news agency SANA, which said at least three people were killed.

"Preliminary information on the deaths of three citizens and injuries to others after three terrorists blew themselves up in the Hadaya hotel on Wihda street in Qamishli square," it said.

A Kurdish activist from the city told AFP that the hotel was being used by the Kurdish "Asayesh" security forces, but there was no immediate confirmation or information on whether security forces were among the killed.

Qamishli is Syria's biggest Kurdish-majority city, and considered by the minority to be the capital of Hasakeh province in the country's northeast.

Syria's regime has reached a fragile accommodation with the country's Kurds, largely withdrawing its troops from areas where they are a majority to focus its efforts on fighting the uprising.

In return, the Kurds have tried to prevent opposition fighters from embroiling their areas in the conflict, often raising their ire and accusations they are collaborating with the regime.

The minority, which was long discriminated against by the government, has used the crisis to build autonomous institutions in Kurdish-minority areas, including security forces and local councils.

But it has come under fierce attack from some parts of the opposition, particularly jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.