According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “many people” were killed in the explosion.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Turkey's Defense Ministry blamed the People's Protection Units (YPG), an armed Kurdish group in operating in northern Syria, for the blast. The ministry claimed that the bombing killed 40 people, including eleven children.

For much of the Syrian Civil War, Afrin was controlled by the YPG. In January 2018, Turkish forces attacked the canton in what it called Operation Olive Branch, fully occupying the area by late March.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including many ethnic Kurds, were killed and displaced during the fighting and have not been able to return home.

Reporter’s code: 50101