ANKARA, Turkey — An explosives-laden truck ignited Tuesday in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing at least 14 people and wounding some 50 others, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.
The explosion happened in a crowded area of the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province, and caused severe damage, the Anadolu Agency reported. The victims included a number of women and children, the report said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that seven people were killed and 32 others were wounded in the attack.
It was the latest in a series of attacks in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria that have killed and wounded scores of people. Turkey has blamed a Kurdish militia group, known as the People’s Protection Units, for the attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, but Anadolu said local security officials were looking into the possibility that it was also carried out by Kurdish militants.
Last month, an attack on a Turkish Red Crescent vehicle in al-Bab killed a member of the aid agency and wounded another. Armed masked men wearing camouflage clothing travelling in two cars without license plates attacked the Red Crescent vehicle as it travelled through the town.
Turkey-backed opposition fighters took control of al-Bab in a military offensive in 2016 that was launched to drive out Kurdish fighters and Islamic State group militants from a border area.
The Associated Press
