A automotive bomb killed 15 agricultural employees in northern Syria on Monday, the nation’s civil protection drive mentioned, as ongoing violence threatens to undermine the brand new authorities’s push for stability.
There have been no rapid claims of duty for the explosion, which occurred within the metropolis of Manbij, about 20 miles from the border with Turkey. Manbij has been a focus of violence between armed teams, one backed by the USA and the opposite by Turkey. The blast on Monday was one of many deadliest such assaults since the autumn of Bashar al-Assad in December.
The Turkish-backed fighters wrested management of the town in December from Kurdish-led forces, who’re supported by the USA, and there has since been a spate of automotive bombings, in keeping with the White Helmets, the Syrian civil protection drive.
The agricultural employees had been being transported behind a truck when a automotive bomb exploded alongside them on the outskirts of the town, which lies about 55 miles northeast of Aleppo, the White Helmets mentioned in an announcement.
A lot of the lifeless had been ladies. At the least 15 different folks had been wounded, and the demise toll was anticipated to rise, the drive mentioned.
Footage from the aftermath confirmed the charred and mangled remnants of a car, and the truck carrying the employees was pierced with shrapnel.
The continued violence underscored the challenges confronted by Syria’s new interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, who’s making an attempt to navigate a crucial juncture within the nation’s historical past.
Mr. al-Shara, who was appointed final week, has pledged to create an inclusive transitional authorities. To that finish, the brand new authorities have introduced the dissolution of all armed factions within the insurgent coalition that toppled Mr. Assad, the nation’s longtime dictator.
It stays unclear, nonetheless, whether or not armed teams which have to date refused to surrender their weapons — together with the Kurdish-led forces who management most of northeastern Syria — will finally settle for that mandate.
Unifying Syria’s advanced net of armed teams beneath a single umbrella, consultants say, is among the many most urgent challenges dealing with the brand new authorities.
