They said the blast on Sunday, December 16, came from a detonated car parked close to the busy market in the city only days after similar explosions hit crowded civilian areas in the towns of Azaz, Rae and al Bab near the border with Turkey under the control of Turkish-backed forces.

Ibrahim Darwish, a resident of Afrin, told Reuters: “the security situation is unbearable. We walk in the streets in fear and avoid any parked cars fearing it could be detonated.”

The Turkish military helped by its Syrian rebel allies seized Afrin, a mainly Kurdish city, from the YPG in March 2018 in a major offensive into the northwest of Syria where Ankara has carved a de facto buffer zone.

Reporter’s code: 50101