Car Bomb Targets Pro-Turkish Rebels In Afrin

At least nine people have been killed in a car bombing in a market in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, reports Agence France-Presse.

On Sunday, an attacker detonated the bomb near the position of Turkish-backed rebels in the city, according the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based watchdog group. 

Five civilians and four fighters were killed and dozens injured, the observatory said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. 

Forces backed by Turkey took the city from Kurdish fighters earlier this year. 

On Dec. 12, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to extend operations targeting Kurdish fighters to areas east of the Euphrates River.

Washington has called on Turkey to restrain its actions in the area and has sought to avoid a confrontation between Turkish forces and U.S. soldiers embedded with the predominately-Kurdish forces east of the Euphrates.