Car bombing at Syrian checkpoint leaves 10 dead

Ten people including at least four fighters were killed Wednesday when a bomb-laden truck exploded at a checkpoint in Syria’s Turkish-controlled northern city of Azaz, a war monitor said.

An AFP correspondent in the area said a booby-trapped truck had detonated at a checkpoint inside the city.

“Ten people have been killed including at least four” Turkish-backed fighters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attack was the result of “a booby-trapped truck that exploded at the Shatt checkpoint manned by the (Turkish-backed) military police in the city of Azaz,” said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

A medical source at the Azaz hospital told AFP nine people had been killed, including five fighters and four civilians, also reporting about 20 wounded.

It was unclear who was behind the attack.

Pro-Ankara forces in Syria control two vast strips of territory along the border with Turkey.

Since 2016, Turkey has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from border areas of northern Syria.

In July, north and northwest Syria saw deadly anti-Turkish protests following a rampage a day earlier against Syrian businesses and properties in central Turkey, where a Syrian man had been accused of harassing a child.

Hundreds had demonstrated throughout Ankara-controlled areas, with some armed protesters attacking Turkish trucks, military posts, and taking down Turkish flags.

Some even attempted to storm crossing points, clashing with Turkish border guards.

The protests also came as signs emerged of a rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported early rebel efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the start of the war in 2011.

But he has reversed course in recent years, with top officials from both countries meeting in Russian-mediated talks.

Syria’s civil war has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests.

It later spiralled into a complex conflict drawing in foreign armies and jihadists.