Car bomb attack kills 18 in northern Syria

November 17, 2019

A car bomb has exploded in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing at least 18 people and wounding several others.

Northern Syria has been hit by several explosions that have killed and wounded scores of people over the past month.

That's since Turkey began a military operation against Kurdish fighters in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull the bulk of American troops out of northern Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 19 people, including 13 civilians, were killed on Saturday in the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province.

The Aleppo Media Centre, an activist collective, said 15 people were killed in the blast in a busy part of town near a bus station.

Turkey's Defence Ministry said the blast killed 18 people, blaming the main Kurdish militia, known as the People's Protection Units.

It is not uncommon for reports to give differing casualty figures in the immediate aftermath of this kind of attack.

No one claimed responsibility..

The past month's attacks have come amid an expanding Turkish invasion into northeast Syria against Kurdish-held towns and villages along a stretch of the border.