Turkey shells Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin

AFRIN, Syrian Kurdistan (K24) - Turkey’s forces are striking the Kurdish city of Afrin and its nearby villages in northwestern Syria, causing many casualties among civilians, local officials told K24.

Jamal Alo, a member of Afrin Canton Council, told K24 on Friday, "The attack--which took place around midnight on Thursday--hit residential neighborhoods in Afrin and its suburbs."

"The Turkish Army units are still targeting Afrin and the surrounding villages with heavy artillery shelling," he said.

Alo added that the bombardments have also targeted the city center and so far has left two dead and injured ten, including children.

"Rescue teams are still looking for survivors trapped underneath the rubble of damaged houses," he said.

Alo called upon the international community to intervene and stop the Turkish offensive on Afrin in particular and Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) in general. "In the last two weeks, Afrin--already over-populated due to receiving tens of thousands of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs)--has most recently hosted an additional 40,000 displaced peoples fleeing Aleppo and its surrounding villages," he explained.

The assault on Afrin comes just a few days after Turkey accused the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) of the bombing attack on Wednesday in the heart of the Turkish capital Ankara which left nearly 30 people dead and over 60 wounded.

On Thursday, Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the Democratic Union Pary (PYD), rejected his parties' involvement in Wednesday's Ankara blast. 

Reporting by Hisham Arafat

Editing by Benjamin Kweskin