Seventeen people were killed and 16 others wounded in a car bombing in Syria’s north on Monday, media outlets reported.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The bombing took place in Manbij, a northern town captured in December during Operation Dawn of Freedom by the Syrian National Army (SNA) from the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK. The PKK/YPG still carries out attacks in the region to take back Manbij.
Syrian state media said most of the victims were female farm workers. Citing White Helmet rescuers, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported there had been a "massacre" on a local road, with "the explosion of a car bomb near a vehicle transporting agricultural workers" killing 17 people. The attack also wounded 16 people, some critically, SANA said, adding that the toll could rise.
It was the second such attack in recent days in Syria, about two months after the fall of the Assad regime’s longstanding rule.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported nine people, including an unspecified number of SNA fighters, were killed Saturday "when a car bomb exploded near a military position" in Manbij.
The SNA has managed to capture two towns, including Tal Rifaat, from the PKK/YPG, but the terrorist group still holds out in some areas, including around the strategic Tishrin Dam.
