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Nine people were killed and 22 injured on Saturday morning in a car bomb explosion in Tal Abyad in northern Turkish-controlled Syria, as fierce fighting between Syrian subsidiary Ankara militias and forces Kurds near the town of Ain Issa.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
The powerful explosion caused a crater and extensive damage, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights and Media Nearby Damascus. Images show burnt cars, damaged buildings and a street strewn with debris.
This is the third attack that strikes in less than a month Tal Abyad region, which is the first city taken by the Turkish army at the beginning of its offensive to establish a buffer zone inside Syria.
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The three attacks have not been claimed, but Turkey accuses the Kurdish militias of being responsible. The Kurdish fighters, supported by the Syrian army who deployed in the north-east of the country, show strong resistance to the offensive of the Turkish army and his Syrian counterparts.
Heavy fighting took place all day Saturday around the key town of Ain Issa, 50 kilometers north of Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed caliphate. This is the most violent fighting since the announcement of a ceasefire under the auspices of Russia in late October.
The pro-Turkish rebels, backed by artillery and explosive drones, are one kilometer from Ain Issa, according to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.
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