Turkish military continues to clear landmines and IEDs in Syria’s Afrin

ISTANBUL

The Turkish military has been continuing to clear landmines and improvised explosive devices (IED) in the northwestern Syrian district of Afrin after Turkish forces and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) took control of the enclave on March 18 as part of “Operation Olive Branch.”

Turkey launched “Operation Olive Branch” on Jan. 20 to clear Afrin of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants.

On March 25, during their search operations, the police special operations teams and commando units, known as the Blue Berets, found a number of explosives, including 27 improvised pipe bombs, five TM-57 anti-tank mines, 12 units of 60mm mortars, one 120mm mortar, 12 plastic IEDs, 200 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, one anti-personnel mine, 10 units of metal IEDs and 24 MB62 anti-tank mine fuses in two houses and a car in the Alemdar village of Afrin, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The security forces detonated the devices they found.

Also, the Turkish military on March 26 discovered an IED workshop during security sweeps in Afrin.

The security forces found a barn used by the YPG militants as an IED manufacturing facility.

Security forces detonated the explosives safely, including 10 TM-57 anti-tank mines and five improvised pipe bombs.

Meanwhile, a bomb planted by YPG militants exploded inside a house in Afrin on March 26, leaving a family of six trapped under debris.

A woman was killed and a child was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The family had returned to their home after the Turkish troops and FSA took control of Afrin.