Car bomb kills two in Turkish-controlled Syrian town

• The explosion occurred in Tal Abyad, held by Turkish forces and Syrian proxies after Ankara launched a military operation against a Kurdish militia in October 2019.

ANKARA: A car bomb attack Sunday killed two people in a Syrian border town controlled by Turkish forces, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The explosion occurred in Tal Abyad, held by Turkish forces and Syrian proxies after Ankara launched a military operation against a Kurdish militia in October 2019.

Five other people were injured, the Turkish ministry said on Twitter.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

But the ministry blamed the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara sees as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"The terrorist responsible for the attack and a terrorist who arrived in the area with another car containing bombs for a second attack were caught alive," it added.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

But the West worked closely with the YPG in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria.

Since Turkey's offensive, there have been multiple car bombings blamed by Ankara on the YPG in which several civilians and Turkish soldiers have been killed.