Bomb Kills at Least 8 in Syrian Town along Border with Turkey

An explosion Sunday morning in a Syrian town on the border with Turkey has left at least eight people dead. The Syrian state news agency SANA blamed the blast on a car bomb while a group monitoring the country’s more-than nine-year civil war cited a booby-trapped motorcycle. The explosion occurred in an open-air fruit and vegetable market in Ras al-Ayn, with several reports saying at least one child was among those killed. The town is part of a swath of northern Syria held by Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels fighting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The Defense Ministry in Ankara immediately blamed the blast on the Kurdish YPG militia, which has also been involved in the fight against Assad. Ankara accuses it of aiding Turkish Kurds agitating against the state for autonomy. The YPG began fleeing the border area after Turkey struck a deal with the US, an ally of the Kurdish group, to withdraw. A later incursion by Turkey saw clashes with remaining YPG forces.