(Beirut) A car bomb exploded early Sunday morning in a market in a town in northern Syria held by pro-Turkish forces, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 20, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. man (OSDH).
The explosion in Azaz, Aleppo province, occurred shortly after midnight, as crowds were out shopping late, as is usually the case during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to a AFP correspondent.
At least “eight people were killed and 23 others injured” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of the market” in Azaz, the NGO said, specifying that the toll was provisional.
According to the Observatory, based in Great Britain but which has an important network of sources in Syria, the explosion caused “significant damage” and started a fire.
A local military police official, who requested anonymity, said it was not clear who was behind the explosion, with the Islamic State (IS) group, Kurdish forces or other groups armed men are among the potential suspects.
Police have “reinforced all checkpoints” and are checking surveillance cameras, the official added.
PHOTO SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE WHITE HELMETS, PROVIDED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
At least eight people were killed in the explosion.
Bomb attacks are frequent in areas held by pro-Turkish forces in northern Syria, where rivalries between armed factions as well as the risk of attacks by IS jihadists are exacerbating an already precarious security situation after years of war and chaos.
” We ran ”
Khaled el-Nowmeh, 36, who runs a pharmacy in Azaz, said he went to the market with his wife and children to buy clothes when the explosion occurred.
“We heard the noise and we ran […] my son started crying,” he testified.
Thaer Hafar, 34, who works in a store in Azaz, said he was going to the market with his family when the explosion took place.
PHOTO BAKR ALKASEM, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Syrians gather near the scene of the explosion.
“We only heard the explosion,” he said, adding that those present were terrified of a possible second car bomb.
Earlier this month, a man was killed and two military policemen were injured when a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the border town of Al-Rai, east of Azaz, recalls OSDH.
This week, several IS members escaped from a prison in the Afrin region, west of Azaz, according to this NGO.
The OSDH announced earlier Saturday that 52 Syrian and Lebanese Hezbollah soldiers and fighters were killed in strikes attributed to Israel on Friday in Aleppo.
Syria was fragmented by the war which broke out in 2011 after the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, and the Turkish army controls two large border areas with affiliated groups after carrying out large-scale operations against Kurdish groups.
IS fighters, hidden in the Syrian desert, have renewed their attacks against the troops of the Bashar al-Assad regime since the start of the year.