Several people were reportedly killed and injured in the explosion of a car bomb in the northwestern Syrian city of Afrin on Sunday. Activists speak of at least one dead and four injured, sources on the ground of many more victims.

The detonation occurred in the afternoon in the district of Eşrefiyê (al-Ashrafiya) in the north of the city. It is assumed to be an attack. It was initially unclear whether it was a conflict among the pro-Turkish occupation militias. The explosion damaged nearby vehicles, buildings and stores.

In the areas occupied by Turkey in northern and northwestern Syria, occupying forces repeatedly fight among themselves. Usually, disagreements over the distribution of loot, ransoms or protection money are the cause. In particular, Afrin, once the most stable region in all of Syria and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, which was exemplary for interreligious diversity and for multiethnic diversity, is scarred by the occupation, which has now lasted for more than three and a half years. Murders, kidnappings, arrests and disappearances are as much on the agenda as looting, forced Arabization, forced Turkification and Islamization.