Number of Afrin bombing casualties rises; new details emerge
North-Press Agency
Turkish military police closed the entrances to the city of Afrin under its control in the northern countryside of Aleppo, starting from Wednesday, until further notice as a precautionary measure following the bombing that happened in front of the popular market on Tuesday evening.
Afrin is witnessing a slowdown in movement today, as local sources from the city confirmed to North-Press that the military police are only allowed to exit from the city, while preventing entry except for those who have a job at organizations working in the area.
The sources added that the explosion was caused by a car bomb during the rush hour before Iftar and coincided with the presence of a fuel tanker behind it, which caused a huge explosion.
The death toll reached 61 people, in addition to about 70 wounded, including women and children, according to the Afrin Post website concerned with news and events in Afrin. This is in addition to the burning of dozens of shops and cars located in the vicinity of the explosion, as a result of the scattering of burning fuel dozens of meters away from the site of the bombing.
The wounded were taken to Afrin Hospital and the military hospital that declared their need for blood transfusion, while nearly 20 wounded were transferred to Turkish hospitals due to the seriousness of their health situation, which suggests the possibility of a further increase in the number of victims.
The same sources confirmed to North-Press that Turkish intelligence prohibited doctors and medical personnel in hospitals from giving any statements to the media outlets without their knowledge.
The identity of large numbers of victims is still unknown, including charred and mutilated bodies, in addition to the presence of 11 children under the age of 18. Most of them are civilians living in Afrin and IDPs from other Syrian areas, as well as six members of the Turkish-backed groups, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Afrin Post quoted local sources, saying that the Kurdish wounded refused to go to hospitals under Turkish control, and preferred to receive treatment in their homes for fear of being sent to Turkey for treatment.
The city witnessed another explosion as a result of a detonation of a VBIED on the Afrin-Maratah road, on Tuesday night, which resulted in the injury of a man.
The bombing of the popular market is the bloodiest since Turkish forces and its affiliated armed opposition groups took control over the Afrin region on March 18, 2018.
The bombing was widely condemned by the United Nations and the U.S. State Department, while the Syrian Democratic Council and the Defense Department in the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, as well as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), blamed the Turkish state for the bombing and the violations by its affiliated armed groups in the Afrin region.