18 civilians were killed and 27 people were injured in a car bomb attack on Saturday in the Syrian city of al-Bab, 30 kilometres south of the Turkish border, according to Anadolu agency.
The Turkish Defence Ministry earlier wrote on Twitter that 10 people were killed, while 15 people were wounded in the incident. According to the ministry, Kurdish militants are responsible for the attack.
Inhumane and uncivilised PKK/YPG terrorists continue to target innocent civilians using the same methods as DAESH. This time the terrorists detonated a car bomb in the Al-Bab bus terminal in the Op Euphrates Shield area, killing 10 civilians and injuring more than 15. pic.twitter.com/t6yPWGBaoX
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) November 16, 2019
Earlier, a local source reported that thirteen civilians were killed and more than thirty people were injured in the incident.
🔴الإعــــلام الحـــربي
— casper (@casper_425) November 16, 2019
إصابة نحو 20 شخصاً حالة بعضهم حرجة جراء انفجار السيارة المفخخة في مدينة الباب الواقعة تحت سيطرة فصائل "الجيش الحر" المدعومة تركياً بريف حلب الشمالي الشرقي، بحسب تنسيقيات المسلحين. pic.twitter.com/YwfOrahj2D
Al-Bab is the largest city in the areas of northern Syria controlled by the Turkish Army and its allied forces, referred to as a safe zone by Ankara.
Last week, at least eight people were killed and more than 20 sustained injuries after a car explosion rocked the village of Suluk in the north of the Syrian Raqqa Governorate.
In October, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a military operation in northeastern Syria to "clear the territory of terrorists," referring to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers terrorists.
Several weeks later, the operation came to a halt following lengthy negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian city of Sochi.
Under the agreement, Russian military police and Syrian border guards committed themselves to facilitating the withdrawal of Kurdish militia from an 18-mile border zone, outside the area of the Turkish military's 'Operation Peace Spring.' Russia and Turkey have since begun joint patrols along the border.