SOHR: Turkey says three civilians killed in Afrin rocket attack

 

A rocket attack in Syrian northwestern city of Afrin killed three civilians and injured ten others late on Friday, according to a statement from a Turkish governor’s office that blames Kurdish fighters.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) “carried out a rocket attack against Afrin downtown, killing three civilians and injuring ten others,” said the governor’s office of Turkey’s Hatay province, which borders Afrin, state media reported.

The Turkish defence ministry said six rockets were fired into the centre of Afrin.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one civilian was killed and eight others were injured.

First responders the White Helmets said that three were killed and 16 others were injured.

Afrin is a Kurdish-majority region located in Syria’s northwest. It has seen many deadly bombings since Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies invaded in 2018, expelling the YPG and forcefully displacing much of the local population, committing what the United Nations has said are possible war crimes.

Turkey and its media usually blame the YPG for deadly attacks in Afrin, but the group has denied targeting civilians. The YPG has not immediately commented on Friday’s attack.

At least four people were killed and several wounded in a car bombing in a market in the centre of Afrin on October 11.

 

 

SOURCE: Rudaw