The 2020 Afrin bombing was a truck bombing in the city of Afrin,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The bombing occurred on 23 April 2020 and killing 53 people and injuring a least another 50.

Bombing

On the afternoon of 28 April 2020, a

truck bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

ing occurred a few meters away from the governor's residence in Raju street in Afrin,

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the ...

. A bomb in a

tank truck A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also design ...

was detonated at an

open-air market A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

in Souk Ali in the city centre. According to the governor of the neighbouring

Hatay province Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of A ...

, across the Turkish border, the explosion was believed to have been caused by the rigging of a fuel tanker with hand grenades. The attack killed at least 53 civilians (including 11 children) and 12 Turkish-backed fighters, and injured over 50 others. Many people, alongside those who got trapped in their cars were burnt to death as a result of the blast, Syrian activists disclosed.

Responsibility

The Turkish government immediately blamed the

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...

(YPG). The

Syrian Democratic Council The Syrian Democratic Council ( ku, Meclîsa Sûriya Demokratîk, MSD; ar, مجلس سوريا الديمقراطية; syc, ܡܘܬܒܐ ܕܣܘܪܝܐ ܕܝܡܩܪܛܝܬܐ, translit=Mawtbo d'Suriya Demoqraṭoyto) is the political wing of the Syri ...

and the commander-in-chief of the

Syrian Democratic Forces , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder , caption = Flag , active = 10 October 2015 – present , ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...

Mazloum Abdi ar, مظلوم عبدي , native_name_lang = Kurdish , birth_name = Ferhat Abdi Şahin , other_name = ''Noms de guerre'':Şahin Cilo,Mazloum Abdî , nickname = , birth_date = 1967 , birth_place = Kobanî, Syria , death_date ...

, condemned the bombing and blamed Turkish policy, pointing out that "gangs armed by Turkey" had been involved in similar attacks. According to the German

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

newspaper ''

Junge Welt ''Junge Welt'' (English: ''Young World'', stylized in its logo as ''junge Welt'') is a German daily newspaper, published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left-wing and Marxist newspaper. German authorities categorize it as a far-left medi ...

'', the nature of the attack and recent tensions suggests a

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

group. Clashes between jihadist militias regularly take place in the Afrin and Idlib regions. Significant tensions have recently re-emerged between

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...

(HTS), the main rebel jihadist force in Idlib, and the Turkish government. HTS has accused Ankara of treason since the Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreed in early March 2020. The week prior to the Afrin bombing, the militiamen destroyed a Turkish

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

while the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known t ...

allegedly destroyed a HTS base by drone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afrin bombing, 2020 2020 murders in Syria 21st-century mass murder in Syria 2020 bombing Aleppo Governorate in the Syrian civil war April 2020 events in Syria Crime in Aleppo Governorate Mass murder in 2020 Suicide bombings in 2020 Suicide car and truck bombings in Syria Terrorist incidents in Syria in 2020 Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators