Syria War: Dozens massacred in a truck bomb attack at an Afrin market
More than 40 people have perished in a bomb attack situated in the Syrian city of Afrin, north-west of Syria
The governor of the nearby province of Hatay close to the Turkish border said a fuel tanker fitted with a hand-grenade, exploded at an overcrowded market-place
The governor and the defence ministry of Turkey both attributed the attack on the Kurdish militia group YPG, who they say operate alongside Kurdish militant groups within Turkey
Afrin is self-controlled by Turkish armed forces and are allied to Syrian opposition splinter groups.
Back in 2018, both factions initiated a joint operation to drive the Syrian YPG local militia out of the metropolis and surrounding regions.
The Turkish government alleges the YPG is an addition of the now-outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The Turkish government is not alone in their findings, as both the EU and the US also class the group as a terrorist organisation
The above is a complete turn around for the United States as previously they relied on the YPG, to defeat the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
The Observatory for Human Rights a Syrian UK-based monitoring group said that the fuel tanker exploded at an open-air market in the central Souk Ali area of Afrin this past Monday close to Syrian government offices
The (OHR) went onto say that at that time of the day (midday) the market is ordinarily full of shoppers in the hours before Muslims break their daily fasts for the holy month of Ramadan.
Pictures derived from the scene revealed thick black smoke rising above a residential area, and cars and food stalls on fire.
According to the Turkish defence ministry, all killed in the attack were civilians and including 11 children, 47 civilians were apparently wounded
The ministry went onto say that "The enemy of humanity PKK/YPG has once again targeted innocent civilians in Afrin." They supplied no supporting evidence
The Syrian Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are commonly known as the White Helmets, denounced the "horrific massacre" of civilians, putting the death toll at 42.
It said the attack was "just one more nail in the coffin of the Syrian people" and called for "international intervention to save lives and protect innocents".
There was no immediate comment from the YPG.
Steve Simmonds