Northern Syria: Kurdish official killed in Aleppo bomb attack

Northern Syria: Kurdish official killed in Aleppo bomb attack
Publish:
A+ A-
The council of Sheikh Maqsoud has accused Turkish-backed groups of assassinating Hamza Kobani, a member of the local administration's financial committee.

An explosion in the city of Aleppo in Syria left one person dead and three injured on Friday.

An official of the local administration in the city's Kurdish-majority neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, Hamza Kobani, was killed by the explosion of a booby-trapped car, Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said, citing local sources.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed the deadly incident, while it said the vehicle carrying the official was targeted by an improvised explosive device.

Both sources noted that the victim was a member of the local administration's financial committee.

In a statement released after the incident, Sheikh Maqsoud's municipal council accused armed groups operating under the command of Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MIT).

It said:

"The council and particularly its financial committee have sprung to action from the first instant of the earthquake and provided aid for the people in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh despite the heavy embargo. Today, our comrade Hamza Kobani, a member of the Financial Committee, was targeted by a booby-trapped car in an attack carried out by groups under the command of MIT."

Condemning the "inhuman crime perpetrated by the Turkish state," it added:

"This crime has been committed against the residents of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh in the midst the disaster caused by the earthquake."

Both neighborhoods in northern Aleppo are semi-autonomous and run by a local administration.

Thousands who fled the Kurdish-majority city of Afrin following its occupation by the Turkish military in 2018 also live in camps set up in the area.

The neighborhoods, a safe haven for many from Aleppo and other parts of the country, and a growing center of trade and manufacture, are frequently besieged in operations by Syrian troops.