Terrorist YPG/PKK kills 8 civilians in northern Syria

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The YPG/PKK terror group killed at least eight civilians and wounded dozens in a car bomb attack in northern Syria, Turkey's National Defense Ministry said on Dec. 23.

The ministry said on Twitter that at least eight civilians, including one woman and child, were killed and dozens wounded in a car bomb attack in the town of Suluk, southeast of Tal Abyad, which was liberated on Oct. 13 from YPG/PKK terrorists in Turkey's Operation Peace Spring.

The YPG/PKK terror group is targeting settlement areas under control of the Syrian National Army (SNA), which fought alongside the Turkish forces in Turkish-led anti-terror operations in northern Syria.

Since 2016, Turkey has conducted three successful operations in northern Syria against the terrorist YPG/PKK and Daesh/ISIS: Operation Euphrates Shield (2016-17), Operation Olive Branch (2018), and Operation Peace Spring.

Launched on Oct. 9, Operation Peace Spring aims to eliminate terrorist YPG/PKK elements from northern Syria east of the Euphrates River in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

On Oct. 22, Ankara and Moscow reached a deal under which YPG/PKK terrorists would pull back 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Turkey’s border, and security forces from Turkey and Russia would carry out mount joint patrols there.

But pockets of deadly terrorists have defied the pullback.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU. It has has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The U.S.-backed SDF, a group dominated by the YPG, has been controlling some 28 percent of the Syrian territories, including most of the 911-kilometer-long Syria-Turkey border.

Turkey deems the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the illegal PKK.