ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A car rigged with explosives hit a checkpoint of a Turkish-backed militia group in northern Syria’s Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) town, killing at least two militiamen and injuring at least two others, reported Turkish state media and a Syrian war monitor. The explosion took place in Tal al-Janab village in Sari Kani, targeting a checkpoint of the pro-Turkey Ahrar al-Sharqiya rebel group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported three deaths and five injuries among the group. Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency reported a lower death toll. It said two members of the Syrian National Army (SNA), an umbrella group of pro-Turkey militia groups in Syria including Ahrar al-Sharqiya, were killed and two others were injured in the car bombing. The fate of the driver is not immediately known. Security forces suspect the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are responsible, according to Anadolu. The YPG is the backbone of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controlled the border town before Turkey and its Syrian proxies pushed them out in October 2019 during a military offensive codenamed Operation Peace Spring. Ankara considers the YPG a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – an armed group fighting for the rights of Kurds in Turkey. Turkey considers the YPG a threat to its national security and blames them for most of the attacks against its interests in northern Syria. A string of blasts and attacks have rocked the area in recent months. A deadly car explosion hit Afrin city in Aleppo province on Tuesday afternoon, killing and injuring several people. Hours earlier, another car bomb hit the Turkish-controlled city of al-Bab, also located in Aleppo province. The Syrian Observatory reported that five people, including three policemen, were killed in the blast, and 19 were injured in the downtown al-Hal bazaar. Local security forces blamed the YPG, Turkish news agency DHA reported.
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