Syria car bombing

This item appears on page 4 of the June 2020 issue.

In northwestern Syria on April 28, a car bomb set off at a market in Afrin killed at least 40 people and injured 47 others. Afrin is controlled by the Turkish military and allied Syrian opposition forces.

Turkey accused the Kurdish militant group People’s Protection Units (YPG) of carrying out the attack. Kurdish groups want to create an independent state consisting of portions of northern Iraq and Syria along with southeastern Turkey. Some groups have carried out terrorist attacks against civilian targets in the past. No group had claimed responsibility as of press time.