Bomb blast kills 40 people in Syrian town of Afrin, Turkey says

ANKARA (ITNTV) - At least 40 civilians were killed, including 11 children, when a bomb detonated in the northern Syrian town of Afrin on Tuesday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said, blaming the attack on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia.

In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said the blast occurred in a crowded area in Afrin’s centre. A video shared by the ministry showed black smoke billowing in the air while ambulance and police sirens wailed in the background.

The United States condemned the attack late on Tuesday, which State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said claimed “the lives of dozens of people shopping in the central market as they prepared to break the Ramadan fast.”

“Initial reports indicate many victims were civilians, including children,” she said in the statement, reiterating a U.S. call for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria. “Such cowardly acts of evil are unacceptable from any side in this conflict.”

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil and has mounted military operations in northern Syria to push it back from the border.

Turkey’s military and its Syrian rebel allies seized Afrin, a mainly Kurdish district, from the YPG in March 2018 in a major offensive.

Tuesday’s blast was one of the deadliest to hit a region under the control of Turkish-backed forces. Ankara frequently blames the YPG for the attacks, while the militia says it does not target civilians.

Comments

Drug dealers 'delivered crack cocaine to mental health hospital'

Drug dealers delivered crack cocaine to vulnerable patients at a mental health hospital, the BBC has been told. It is one of the claims made by a number of former patients at units run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which have seen five deaths in less than two years. The trust has been criticised over its services at three hospitals, including West Lane in Middlesbrough, where three teenage girls died. The trust said reviews were under way. One girl admitted to West Park Hospital in Darlington last year told BBC Inside Out: "Definitely the most alarming [thing] was the presence of crack cocaine on the ward. "There were two ways [to get it]. Either people left and brought it back in with them, or you could ring a dealer and they would come on to the ward and deliver them for you." She also said staff were "tipped off" ahead of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. "They were told in advance what would be happen

Meet the man building a human zoo in China

(CNN) — For decades, humans have ripped up the natural landscape in Asia, chopping down trees to build luxury resorts in the most beautiful locations and caging wild animals to attract tourists. Bangkok-based hotel architect Bill Bensley is saying "no more." When a client approached him about designing a resort that included a zoo in Wuchuan, in southern China's Guangdong province, he flipped the idea on its head: let's cage the humans and let the exotic and endangered animals roam free. Sounds crazy? Bensley is known for maverick ideas, so much so that he's been called the "Willy Wonka of hotel design." At his Shinta Mani Wild resort in Cambodia guests arrive via a 380-meter zipwire over the wilderness of the South Cardamom National Park and are invited to join Wildlife Alliance anti-poaching patrols. But he's not doing things simply for the shock factor. Bensley is a lifelong conservationist who deeply cares about what humans are doing

80 pct of life stopped in Turkey due to outbreak, says interior minister

Turkish citizens, especially those living in metropolises, have been abiding by the “social isolation” principles laid out by the government, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said, adding that almost 80 percent of life “stopped” in Turkey . “Up until now, just our ministry issued 38 circulars, 17 of which concern the borders. Many high-level precautions have been taken. Right now, 80 percent of life stopped in Turkey,” Soylu said on March 26 in an interview with a private broadcaster. Soylu also provided updated figures for passenger traffic. He said that there is a 73 percent decline in inter-city bus services, adding that these services can also be suspended if needed. On intra-city traffic, Soylu said that there has been an 80 percent decline. This figure was 65 percent according to another interview the minister held on March 25. The government has four cruxes it predicates on when taking measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus , according to So

Infotainment News TV

Search This Blog