RFE/RL: Car bomb devastates town center in northern Syria

At least 13 civilians were killed and 20 were injured when a car bomb exploded in Tal Abyad — a northern Syrian town close to the country’s border with Turkey on Nov. 2. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that some of the victims were Turkish-backed militiamen. The Turkish Defense Ministry blamed the attack on Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militia designated by Ankara as a “terrorist” branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). As part of a deal struck on Oct. 17 between Turkey and the United States, a 120-kilometer “safe zone” was established, and the YPG was obligated to withdraw from the area. On Nov. 1, Turkey and Russia began joint military patrols to enforce the “safe zone.”