A automobile bomb killed 15 agricultural staff in northern Syria on Monday, the nation’s civil protection pressure 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 happened within the metropolis of Manbij, about 20 miles from the border with Turkey. Manbij has been a focal point of violence between armed teams, one backed by america and the opposite by Turkey. The blast on Monday was one of many deadliest such assaults since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.
The Turkish-backed fighters wrested management of town in December from Kurdish-led forces, who’re supported by america, and there has since been a spate of automobile bombings, in accordance with the White Helmets, the Syrian civil protection pressure.
The agricultural staff had been being transported behind a truck when a automobile bomb exploded alongside them on the outskirts of town, which lies about 55 miles northeast of Aleppo, the White Helmets mentioned in a press release.
A lot of the useless had been ladies. A minimum of 15 different individuals had been wounded, and the loss of life toll was anticipated to rise, the pressure mentioned.
Footage from the aftermath confirmed the charred and mangled remnants of a automobile, 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 essential juncture within the nation’s historical past.
Mr. al-Shara, who was appointed final week, has pledged to create an inclusive transitional government. 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, nevertheless, 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 ultimately settle for that mandate.
Unifying Syria’s advanced internet of armed teams below a single umbrella, consultants say, is among the many most urgent challenges going through the brand new authorities.
