Car bomb explosion kills at least 13 in northern Syria

At least 13 people were killed, and many others injured in a car bomb explosion in a northern Syrian town that Turkey took control of last month, officials said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion at a market in Tal Abyad near the Turkish border.

Turkey’s defense ministry blamed the armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), while a group aligned with the Kurds blamed Turkey.

“The attack in Tal Abyad that targeted civilians is noteworthy for those that see the YPG as innocent and protects them,” Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, tweeted.

A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the YPG makes up a large part, denied any responsibility.

“We believe this is the work of the Turkish state and their intelligence and mercenaries to frighten and terrorize the local people,” SDF press Commander Marivan Qamishlo told CNN, adding that the “second point is to defame the image of SDF” in the world’s eyes.

CNN cannot verify the allegations of either side.

Tal Abyad was one of the city’s targeted in Turkey’s offensive into Syria last month, days after US President Donald Trump’s administration announced that US troops would leave the border area.

Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring” aimed to clear Kurdish forces — who were a key US ally in the fight against ISIS — from its border area and resettle some 2 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey into a “safe zone” on the border. Tal Abyad is in that zone.