News / Syria

Several killed as car bomb hits Turkish-occupied city in northern Syria

Sunday, 26 January 2020 6:00 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 26 January 2020 6:07 PM ]

The photo shows the aftermath of a deadly car bomb attack in the city of Azaz in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, on January 26, 2020. (Photo by SANA)

At least eight people have been killed after a car bomb went off in a Turkish-occupied city in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.

Syria's official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported that an explosive-laden truck detonated in the northern Syrian city of Azaz on Sunday, adding that the explosion led to a massive fire in nearby shops and cars in the area.

At least 20 others were also wounded in the huge blast, which occurred in front of a restaurant and a gas station, the report further said, adding that the explosion also inflicted damage to houses and properties in its vicinity.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly bomb attack.

The city has been under the occupation of Turkish troops and Turkish-backed militants since October last year, when they launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion of northeastern Syria in a declared attempt to push Kurdish YPG militants from border areas.

Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984. The YPG constitutes the backbone of the Kurdish-dominated so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Damascus has strongly condemned the cross-border invasion as a “blatant attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Syria.

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Turkish forces attack villages in NE Syria

Additionally on Sunday, Turkish forces and Ankara-backed militants shelled residential houses in villages around the occupied border city of Ras al-Ayn in the northeastern province of Hasakah, SANA said in a separate report.

It added that “the occupation forces” targeted residential buildings in the villages Um Harmalah, Tal Harmal, and al-Asadiya with mortar and artillery shells, inflicting material damage to a number of buildings.

The attack forced some families of these villages to flee their homes for fear of indiscriminate shells.

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