Vehicle Bomb Attack in Syria's Afrin Leaves 40 Dead, Including 11 Children

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At least 40 civilians, including 11 children, were killed yesterday (April 28) in a vehicle bomb attack attack in Afrin, northwestern Syria.

Forty-seven others were also wounded in the attack in the city center carried out using a bomb-rigged fuel tanker.

Many buildings were damaged on Raju Street where the fuel tanker exploded, and medical personnel took the wounded to hospitals in the center of Afrin.

While no group claimed the attack, the Defense Ministry stated that it was carried out by the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG). The governor's office of Hatay, which neighbors Afrin, stated that a person who was involved in the attack was detained.

Turkey captured the Kurdish-majority Afrin city from the YPG after a military operation in early 2018.

Later in the day, a second vehicle-borne explosive device detonated in the city. No casualties were reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the attack on Twitter, saying that the US renews its call for support and implementation of a nationwide ceasefire in Syria after "today's cowardly act of terror carried out on innocent victims in Afrin."

"Such acts of evil are unacceptable from any side in this conflict," he added.

State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, "The United States condemns the act of terror carried out today in Afrin, Syria, claiming the lives of dozens of people shopping in the central market as they prepared to break the Ramadan fast. Initial reports indicate many victims were civilians, including children."

UK Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly said he was "appalled" at the news coming from Syria.

"I'm appalled at reports that dozens of civilians were killed today by a bomb set off in a marketplace in Afrin, Syria," he wrote on Twitter. (EKN/VK)