Afrin bomb attack kills three civilians

AFRIN- Anadolu Agency

Three civilians were killed and eight injured on Jan. 20 in a bomb attack in the northern Syrian town of Afrin.

Turkish authorities suspect the YPG, the Syrian branch of the illegal PKK,  was behind the attack on the first anniversary of the start of Turkey’s  cross-border military operation Operation  Olive Branch.

One of the bombs, targeting a bus, killed three civilians and injured eight.

The other was planted along a busy street in a garbage dumpster, but hurt no one.

Since being rooted out from Afrin by last year’s Operation Olive Branch, the YPG has targeted civilians and security forces.

Tthe PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union. 

In a separate attack, a bomb exploded near a highway at the southern edge of Syria’s capital Damascus yesterday, state media reported.
An attacker was arrested and no one was injured, state news agency SANA said.

The head of the city’s civil defense, Asef Hababe, told Reuters that military technicians had detonated a device.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitoring group, said the explosion was near a security post.

Syria’s war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, forced more than half its pre-war population from their homes and dragged in global powers.