Scores dead as explosion rocks rebel checkpoint in Syria's Afrin

At least eight civilians were among 13 killed in a car bomb attack near a checkpoint manned by Turkey-backed rebels in the northern Syrian town of Afrin on Thursday, a war monitor said.

"The car bomb exploded near the checkpoint at the entrance to the town where vehicles were gathering to be checked," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies took control of Afrin from Kurdish forces in March last year after a two-month air and ground offensive.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said three Syrians were killed in the Turkish town of Reyhanli close to the Syrian border in a car blast and that it might be terror-related.

Turkey was hit by a series of terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants, which left hundreds dead.

The last major attack was the New Year massacre by a gunman at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul just minutes into 2017 which left 39 dead.

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