Turkey says six killed in bomb attack near Syria border

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A bomb attack by the Kurdish YPG militia killed six people and wounded 11 on Tuesday in the northeastern Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, the Turkish Defence Ministry said.

The Arab town, from which Turkish-backed forces last October pushed out the YPG militia in a major campaign spearheaded by the Turkish army, has seen a series of car blasts that have killed dozens of civilians.

The attack was carried out with a car bomb and wounded civilians were treated in hospitals on both sides of the border, according to a statement by the governor’s office in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sanliurfa.

The governor’s office said 17 people were wounded in the attack.

The YPG — which Ankara considers a terrorist group because of its ties to PKK Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey — had for years been allied to the United States in the fight against Islamic State.