(Zaman Al Wasl)- A bomb detonated on a truck containing diesel-filled barrels and killed eight civilians and wounded seven more, including children, in northwestern Aleppo region on Monday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said on its Twitter account that the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey designates as a terrorist group, was responsible for the attack in the city of Afrin, a region under the control of Turkey-backed Syrian National Army, Reuters reported.
Turkey took Afrin from the US-backed Kurdish forces two years ago in a major military offensive, so-called Operation Olive Branch.
Car bombs have become the new attack tactic by YPG militia to target pro-Turkey fighters, such a deadly tactic has claimed the lives of tens of people as blasts hit marketplaces and bus terminals in the towns of al-Bab, Jarablus, Suluk, Tal Abyad and Afrin.
Turkey considers YPG fighters as terrorists for their links to a decades-long Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey that has killed tens of thousands. The same fighters were the United States' partners on the ground in fighting the Islamic State group.
The Syrian National Army is an umbrella group in northern Syria consisting of an assortment of rebel forces. Many of the group’s factions, made up largely of Arab fighters, had already fought at Turkey’s behest in two previous military operations over the past three years.
Zaman Al Wasl
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