Car bomb kills 20 in northern Syria, deadliest attack since Assad toppled

No immediate claims of responsibility for ‘terror’ attack in Manbij, near the Turkish border. Victims were mostly women, officials said

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Syrian White Helmet civil defence workers inspect the site of a car bomb attack on the outskirts of Manbij, Syria on Monday. Photo: Syrian Civil Defence White Helmets via AP

Published: 12:32am, 4 Feb 2025

A car bomb killed at least 20 people in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the Syrian presidency said, marking the second attack there in three days and the country’s deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December.

The presidency’s statement said it will hold the perpetrators of what it described as a “terror attack” accountable.

“This crime will not pass without the most severe punishment against its perpetrators to serve as an example against those who will try to tamper with the security of Syria or harm its people,” the presidency said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack in Manbij, located some 30km (19 miles) from the Turkish border. At least 14 of the dead were women, according to a preliminary toll issued earlier by the civil defence rescue service and another 15 women were wounded.

The victims were agricultural workers and the death toll was likely to increase, a civil defence official told Reuters.

Manbij has changed hands numerous times during Syria’s 13-year civil war, most recently in December when Turkish-backed groups captured it from the US-backed SDF, which is led by the Kurdish YPG militia.