Car bomb goes off in Turkish-held area in NE Syria, kills eight civilians

At least eight people have been killed and several others wounded when a car rigged with explosives went off in the Turkish-controlled western countryside of Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah.

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported that the attack took place on Saturday afternoon near the silos of Tal Halaf village west of the city of Ra’s al-Ayn, which has been under control of the Turkish military since its cross-border offensive last October.

The report added that the blast claimed the lives of eight civilians and left seven others wounded.

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The explosion also caused material damage in the area, and set a number of parked cars aflame.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. 

The development came only a day after two children lost their lives and three people sustained injuries when a car bomb went off in Ra’s al-Ayn.

The bomb, which had been placed inside a taxi cab, was detonated near the national hospital of the city.

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Back on November 26 last year, a car bomb killed at least 17 people and wounded 20 others in Tal Halaf village.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry blamed the attack on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants.

“The PKK/YPG terror group continues its car bombings aimed at civilians. The child murderers this time detonated a car bomb in Tal Halaf village west of Ra’s al-Ayn, killing 17 people and wounding more than 20,” the ministry said on its official Twitter page at the time. 

Fresh infighting erupts among Turkish-backed militants in Ra’s al-Ayn

Separately, two Turkish-backed Takfiri militant groups engaged in fierce clashes in Ra’s al-Ayn.

The infighting occurred between al-Hamza Division and Ahrar al-Sharqiya extremists on Friday as the rival groups accused each other of treason and deadly car bomb attacks in the area, according to SANA.

The skirmishes left several militants injured and caused a state of panic among the locals. A number of cars belonging to the Takfiris were set on fire as well.

Turkish-backed militants were deployed to northern Syria last October after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push YPG militants away from border areas.

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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.

More than 200,000 people have been internally displaced by the Turkish-led offensive, according to the United Nations.

On October 22 last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed a memorandum of understanding that asserted the YPG militants had to withdraw from the Turkish-controlled "safe zone" in northeastern Syria within 150 hours, after which Ankara and Moscow would run joint patrols around the area.

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