At least eight people have been killed and more than 20 others injured in a car bombing at a busy market in Syria’s northwestern province of Aleppo.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least “eight people were killed and 23 others wounded” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market” in the militant-held town of Azaz, located roughly 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Aleppo, early on Sunday.
The Britain-based war monitor added that the blast caused “significant damage” and sparked a fire, adding that ambulances and rescue personnel were at the scene.
When the bomb went off, the market was busy with shoppers buying new clothes for their children ahead of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan next month.
Footage of the aftermath showed bodies lying on the ground, damaged buildings and the remnants of a car on fire.
Azaz is run by pro-Turkish Takfiri militants opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push militants of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria says the Turkish offensive has killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, since it started.
Turkey has also played a major role in supporting terrorists in Syria ever since major foreign-backed militancy overtook the country more than ten years ago.
