Dozens of people were killed and injured due to the explosion of a booby-trapped fuel tank in the city of Afrin (north of Syria), which was a stronghold of the Kurdish units, coinciding with the killing of a number of those units while trying to attack the Turkish army at the border.

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported the death of 42 civilians - including women and children - as a result of the explosion of the tank in a popular market in Afrin, and that there are dozens of wounded, some of them seriously injured, which is likely to increase the number of dead.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense accused the Kurdish People's Protection Units of being responsible for the bombing, and the ministry also released a video clip showing black smoke billowing into the air.

Afrin - controlled by the Syrian opposition - was subjected during the past months to similar operations that led to the death of dozens of civilians, but this bombing was the most violent, and Ankara usually blames the Kurdish units, after they were expelled from Afrin and its surroundings by the Turkish army and the opposition two years ago.

Thousands of residents of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, are currently living in Afrin, who have been evacuated by the Syrian regime forces.

An infiltration attempt
on the other hand, the Turkish Ministry of Defense reported on Twitter that 15 Kurdish People's Protection Units attempted to infiltrate into the "Spring of Peace" area (northern Syria), and fired at the Turkish army, before they were answered, killing 11 The rest were arrested while they were injured.

The ministry confirmed that no members of the Turkish army or "friendly forces" were injured.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense announced the conduct of the sixth ground patrol of the Turkish-Russian joint forces, on the "M4" road in Idlib, with the participation of personnel from the land and air forces of the two sides.