Car bomb kills 2 civilians in Azaz, injures 3

At least two civilians were killed and three others were injured in a car bomb attack in the northwestern city of Azaz, Turkey's National Defense Ministry said Monday.

"According to initial reports, a car bomb detonated by the terrorists outside the bus terminal in the centre of the city has killed 2 people and severely injured 3," the ministry said on Twitter.

It added that the YPG/PKK terrorists, "the enemy of humanity," targeted innocent civilians in Azaz.

Car bombs have become the new attack tactic by Kurdish militias to target pto-Turkey fighters but this deadly tactic has claimed the lives of tens of people as blasts hit marketplaces and bus terminals in the towns of Azaz, al-Bab, Jarablus and Tal Abyad.

Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria, east of the Euphrates River in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

The U.S.-backed SDF, a group dominated by the YPG, has been controlling some 28 percent of the Syrian territories, including the most of the 911-kilometer-long Syria-Turkey border.

Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian National Army last month took control of Tal Abyad and other border towns from Kurdish forces, after US troops - who were protecting the Kurds - pulled out, according to BBC.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in October in border towns in northern Syria, including Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, as Turkish forces pushed into the area.

Turkey's military took the Kurdish-held border areas in northern Syria immediately after US forces were withdrawn. Turkey has a longstanding enmity with the Kurds and wants to push back the YPG from its border.

Turkey claims the YPG is a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

Turkish forces have created a 120-kilometre (75-mile) "safe zone" between Tal Abyad and the town of Ras al-Ain, pushing the YPG out of the area. Turkish troops on Friday began joint patrols with Russian forces.

Eight years of war in Syria have killed 560,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.

Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies

Zaman Al Wasl