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Turkish authorities capture Syria bomb attack suspect

November 17, 2019 at 5:15 pm

Syrian National Army (SNA) members seen after the area was cleared of other militia by Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring, in eastern Ras Al-Ayn, Syria on 11 November, 2019 [Muhammed Nur/Anadolu Agency]

Turkish authorities have captured a Syrian Kurdish YPG fighter suspected of a car bomb attack in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab a day earlier, which killed 18 people and wounded 30 others, Turkey’s defence ministry said on Sunday, reports Reuters.

The ministry said on Saturday that the car bomb was carried out by Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in the northern Syrian border town of Al-Bab, which Turkish forces seized in a 2016 offensive.

Ankara views the YPG, the main component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) waging a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.

READ: Turkey arrests 4 foreign Daesh terror suspects

“The perpetrator of the attack was caught after a successful operation by the National Intelligence Organisation,” Turkey’s defence ministry said on Twitter.

Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies have so far mounted three separate offensives in northern Syria against Daesh and the YPG militia, seizing areas along its border. They launched another offensive against the YPG in northeastern Syria last month.

Turkey’s latest offensive was widely condemned by Ankara’s Western allies, who said the assault could hinder the fight against Daesh in Syria. Turkey has dismissed the concerns, saying it will continue to combat Daesh.