Car bomb claims five lives in Turkish-controlled Syria region

The attack takes place in Tal Halaf southwest of Ras al-Ayn, which was taken by the Turkish military

ANKARA: A car bomb killed five people including three children in the Turkish-controlled region of northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The attack took place in Tal Halaf southwest of Ras al-Ayn, which was taken by the Turkish military during its offensive against Kurdish militants in October.

It blamed the attack on the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which has ties to the insurgent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Turkey.

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"The PKK/YPG terror group continues its treacherous attacks targeting innocent civilians. The child murderers this time detonated a car bomb in a residential area in Tal Halaf southwest of Ras al-Ayn, killed five innocent civilians including three children," the ministry tweeted.

Britain-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack but gave a lower toll of two, adding that several people were injured.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to establish a "safe zone" in areas seized during the October offensive, and use it to repatriate some of the 3.6 million refugees currently in Turkey.