Syrian activists: Car bomb in northern town; several wounded

Ankara has vowed it will not abandon any of the military obervation posts it maintains on the front lines around the rebel-held Idlib region and has warned Damascus "not to play with fire" "Will do whatever is necessary to ensure the security of our soldiers and observation posts," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in AnkaraA convoy of Turkish military vehicles passes through the town of Saraqeb in the northwestern province of Idlib reportedly heading toward the town of Khan Sheikhun in the southern countryside of the province on August 19, 2019. Damascus today condemned the deployment of a Turkish military convoy towards a key town in northwestern Syria where regime forces are waging fierce battles with jihadists and rebels.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition activists say a car bombing in a town in northern Syria controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters has wounded several people.

There were no reports of deaths in the explosion.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said Friday’s blast in the town of Afrin occurred near the offices of a Turkey-backed rebel faction.

Afrin Now, an activist collective, quoted the Civil Defense in the town as saying as many as 25 people were wounded.

Activists also said that shortly after the initial explosion, two mortar shells wounded two people.

Turkey and allied Syrian fighters took Afrin last year, expelling Syrian Kurdish fighters considered terrorists by Ankara. The Turkish takeover set off a series of attacks against Turkey’s presence in the originally Kurdish-dominated areas.

Photo: Turkish military vehicles in Idlib