BFF-78 15 killed, injured in twin blasts in Syria’s Afrin

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15 killed, injured in twin blasts in Syria’s Afrin

DAMASCUS, June 27, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – At least 15 people were killed or
wounded on Wednesday in two explosions that rocked Syria’s northern Afrin
enclave, a monitor group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of the explosions is
believed to be caused by a booby-trapped vehicle that went off in a
roundabout in the center of Afrin, while the cause of the second blast was
unknown. The two explosions came hours after fighting erupted between the
rebel groups in control of Afrin, the Observatory said, adding that two rebel
groups clashed with each other with machineguns.

Still, no party claimed responsibility for the explosions and it is unknown
whether the casualties are rebel fighters or civilians.

The Turkey-backed militants took control of all of Afrin in March after
battles with the Kurdish People Protection Units (YPG), who were in control
of that predominantly Kurdish enclave in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

After storming Afrin, many Syrian Kurdish families fled to nearby Kurdish
areas and government-controlled towns amid reports of discrimination by the
rebels against the residents of Afrin.

Turkey pushed an offensive, known as “Olive Branch,” to dislodge the
Kurdish fighters from Afrin, as Ankara regards the YPG as a terror group due
to its links with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is also branded as a
terror group in Turkey.

BSS/XINHUA/FI/ 1927 hrs