Massive truck bomb explosion in Syria’s Afrin kills 40+ civilians & Turkey-backed militants

The explosion went off in a marketplace near the city center on Tuesday afternoon, sending a vast fireball and a column of black smoke into the air from the fuel- and bomb-laden truck, as was seen in video footage capturing both the moment of the bombing and its chaotic aftermath. Another 47 people were wounded in addition to the fatalities, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.

While no group has yet taken responsibility for the attack, Ankara has pinned blame on the YPG, Kurdish militia active in Syria which the Turkish government has deemed a terrorist organization. One suspect has been captured by Turkish forces, according to the governor of Turkey’s Hatay province, who said the man abandoned the truck after driving it to the busy marketplace. However, footage has since surfaced showing the vehicle still moving at the time of the attack, suggesting either that the suspect was not the driver, or had an accomplice.

Mourning the many “civilian martyrs” who perished in the attack, Syrian state media reported that a number of Turkish-backed “terrorists” were also killed. The militants have occupied Afrin – a Kurdish-majority city – since Turkey launched its cross-border ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in 2018, intended to clear away the YPG and allied militias who took control of the city when the Syrian government repositioned its forces several years prior. Although Ankara insists the offensive was directed at “terrorists,” as many as 200,000 civilians were also caught up in the fighting and forced to flee the city.