Turkish troops foil attack planned by PYD in Syria

ANKARA

Turkish troops seized an explosive-packed vehicle prepared for an attack on a Turkish military convoy in the northern Syrian city of Jarablus last week, the army announced on Jan. 28.      

The bomb-laden car was seized on Jan. 21 and departed from the Manbij area on the western banks of the Euphrates River, according to a General Staff statement.      

A militant in the captured vehicle confessed to have taken instructions to carry out a suicide attack from higher ranking figures in the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Hussein al-Hamad, one of the militants, said he was tasked with bringing the vehicle to Jarablus from Manbij and received orders to detonate it while the Turkish military convoy was passing.      

Hamad said the instruction was given by PYD militants codenamed “Dindar” and “Fırat.”     

Turkey launched its Euphrates Shield operation in late August 2016 in northern Syria to tighten border security, eliminate the terror threat along its borders and support opposition forces in the region.  

Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces are fighting both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the PYD.