Monitor: 11 killed in two car bombings in rebel area in Syria

Damascus, Jan. 31, (dpa/GNA) – At least 11 people, including six civilians, were killed on Sunday in two car bombings in an area controlled by Turkish-backed rebels in northern Syria, a war monitor reported.

Six civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed when a car bomb exploded in the rebel-held town of Azaz in the countryside of the northern province of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.

At least 30 others were injured in the explosion, the Britain-based monitor added.

Initially, the observatory said at least two people were killed and 22 injured in the attack that also caused heavy material damage.

The blast took place near the town’s cultural centre, which is being used as the base of a self-styled opposition government, a local police source told dpa.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, a car bomb went off in the town of Bzaa, killing five members of a pro-Turkey rebel group, according to the monitor.

The bombing targeted a security checkpoint manned by the self-styled al-Hamzah Brigade, it added.
On Saturday, a car bombing in Syria’s northern town of Afrin, controlled by Turkish troops and their rebel allies, claimed eight lives, according to the observatory.

So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for any of the three attacks.

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army militia blamed similar attacks in the past on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization and an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK has for years waged an insurgency against the state in Turkey.

Kurdish forces were pushed out of parts of northern Syria in 2019 after Turkey mounted an offensive there.

GNA