The soldiers were among sixteen people reported killed when a car bomb rocked a checkpoint run by a Turkey-backed militia in the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported.
The bombing targeted militants belonging to the Sultan Murad Division, an armed group that forms part of the Turkish-backed so-called Syrian National Army (SNA) umbrella. Sixteen people were killed in the explosion, including at least two civilians and three Turkish soldiers, SOHR said.
However, the Sanliurfa province governor’s office said two Turkish soldiers and two members of SNA were killed, and six Turkish soldiers and two SNA fighters were injured, according to a copy of the governor’s statement published by pro-government Turkish news outlet DHA.
The remaining dead were local police officers and Sultan Murad fighters, the UK-based SOHR said, adding that twelve people were injured in the explosion.
The bombing took place at 3:25 pm, according to the announcement from the Sanliurfa governor’s office.
Sari Kani and the nearby town of Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) were invaded by Turkey and its proxies in October 2019. Both towns were previously under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The governor’s statement blamed the attack on the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group that forms the backbone of the SDF.
The SDF-affiliated Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that the explosion took place in the east of Sari Kani, on the main road to the city of Hasaka.
A string of blasts and other attacks have rocked Turkey-controlled parts of northern Syria in recent months.
A car rigged with explosives hit a checkpoint run by a Turkish-backed militia group in Sari Kani in late November, killing at least two militiamen and injuring at least two more. Similar explosions have taken place in the northwest Syrian towns of Afrin and Bab.
Most of these explosions have been blamed by Turkey-backed forces and Turkish media on the YPG. The group is considered by Ankara as a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – an armed group fighting for the rights of Kurds in Turkey.
While the deaths of Turkish-backed militiamen in north Syria clashes are common, the killing of personnel from Turkey itself is rare.
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