Seven people allegedly affiliated with the YPG/PKK terrorist group and responsible for 11 bombings in northern Syria's Afrin province were arrested Sunday.
Afrin – just across Turkey's southern border – was liberated from the YPG/PKK by Turkey's Operation Olive Branch in 2018, but has still been subject to occasional attacks by the group.
The alleged terrorists were caught by the security department of Afrin's coordinator following a June 16 operation in which security authorities raided their cells based on intelligence and were then questioned by security officials.
The suspects are accused of burning cars, wounding nine civilians in 11 bombings, deliberately attempting murder, possessing explosives and being affiliated with a terror group. They will be tried in Afrin.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terrorist operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable peaceful settlement by locals: Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.
