ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- At least five people were killed in a dawn bombing in the Turkish-controlled Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northwest Syria on Thursday, according to several sources.
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) observed the explosion of a bomb-laden vehicle in the fruit bazaar Afrin city to the north of Aleppo, martyring five people and injuring 10 more, with some in being in a critical condition,” the UK-based war monitor said.
A gas station also exploded, adding to extensive material damage, added SOHR.
SOHR numbers differed from those revealed by rebel media. Effect Media Network, a pro-armed opposition news outlet, reported nine killed and 30 injured in the bazar explosion.
A source who spoke to Rudaw from Afrin said that the explosion took place at 6:50 AM.The car bomb is said to have targeted the security headquarters of the Sham Front, a jihadist group within the Turkish-backed forces, and killed seven of their fighters.
According to the source, six more were injured, one of whom was a civilian. No one has claimed responsibility so far.
Hawar News, media close to the ruling Kurdish authorities in northern Syria, did report the explosion, but did not include numbers of casualties.
The Kurdish enclave of Afrin was ruled by Kurdish authorities when the Syrian regime withdrew from the Kurdish-majority northern areas of Syria.
The town was isolated from the rest of Kurdish areas by a Turkish-controlled zone in Northern Aleppo.
In early 2018, Turkey launched “ Operation Olive Branch” incursion into the town, forcing Kurdish forces to withdraw, and displacing over 200,000 local civilians.
The city has allegedly faced a widespread ethnic cleansing campaign by Turkish-backed groups as hundreds of thousands of Syrian Arabs from elsewhere in the country have been resettled there.
Since then, general lawlessness, and crimes such as looting, arbitrary kidnappings, and assassinations by Turkish-backed groups have overtaken the city.
This explosion is not the first explosion to strike the town.
The attacks comes at a time when Turkish-backed groups, some of whom who had fought in Afrin, continue their onslaught on Kurdish-controlled territories in northern Syria.
Despite a Turkish deals with Russia and the US, and the subsequent withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the border, Turkish-backed groups continued their offensive into northern Syria, especially around the town of Tel Tamr.
While Turkish-backed fighters are fighting to take over Kurdish-controlled territories, the Syrian regime and the Russian air force have been trying to take over the hills of Kabani in northwestern province of Latakia, in a bid to gain strategic high ground against Idlib.
Idlib is dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an armed group of rebels and jihadists formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda and known as Jabhat al-Nusra.
Syrian forces are preparing to start their Idlib offensive in the near future. Syrian regime troops are yet to make meaningful advance, and rebel media have reported the dismantling of at least two regime tanks in the fighting for the strategic hills that overlooks the critical Jisr al-Shogour in northwest of Idlib province.
