Rocket attack by YPG/PKK terrorists kill 3 civilians, wound 4 in northern Syria

By Erdal Turkoglu

HATAY, Turkey (AA) – At least three civilians, including a child, were killed and four others wounded in Syria’s northern Afrin province as the YPG/PKK terror group carried out a rocket attack on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Governor’s Office in Turkey’s Hatay province, just across the border, said that terrorists fired 13 rockets from Syria’s Tal Rifat district targeting the city center of Afrin.

The injured people were taken to nearby hospitals, while local authorities have launched an investigation into the attack, the statement said.

The YPG/PKK terror group often mounts attacks on Jarabulus, Afrin and Azaz from Syria's Manbij and Tal Rifat areas.

Afrin was largely cleared of YPG/PKK terrorists in 2018 by Turkey's anti-terror offensive Operation Olive Branch, but the terror group still targets the region to disrupt the peace established by Turkish forces.

Euphrates Shield (2016) is one of the three successful anti-terror operations that Turkey has launched since 2016 across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents. The other two are Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz.