International Desk //

At least 15 people were killed in a bomb blast in the city of Manbij in Syria’s northeastern Aleppo province, the country’s state news agency SANA reported.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government fell in the face of a rebel uprising in December. Since then, attacks have occurred in various parts of the country. SANA said the attack on Manbij was the second in three days on Monday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Manbij, about 30 kilometers from the Turkish border. The country’s civil defense rescue agency said the car bomb blast killed 15 people, including 14 women and one man. Another 15 women were wounded in the explosion.

A civil defense official told Reuters that the victims in the explosion were agricultural workers. He expressed fears that the death toll could rise.

The city of Manbij has changed hands several times during the Syrian war. In December, Turkish-backed groups recaptured the city from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF had previously captured the city from the Islamic State in 2016. A car bomb in Manbij on Saturday killed at least four civilians, including children, SANA reported.

Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, there has been widespread hostility between the Turkish-backed Syrian government and local militia groups. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested that pro-Kurdish fighters in Syria surrender their weapons. He said that if the Kurdish fighters do not surrender their weapons, they will be buried in the ground.

Turkish forces and their allies have been fighting Kurdish fighters in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Since Assad fled, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the pro-Kurdish YPG militia must be eliminated. Turkey says the group has no place in Syria’s future. The change in leadership in Syria has pushed the country’s main pro-Kurdish factions into the background.

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