The Afrin Liberation Forces (ALF) have claimed responsibility for the April 19 attack on Turkish bases in the northern Aleppo countryside.
In an official statement released on April 20, the Kurdish group said that its fighters attacked two Turkish military bases near the towns of Maryamayn and Villat al-Qadi “in the framework of their special operations against the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries in the area of Afrin and its surroundings.”
The ALF also released a video showing its fighters targeting two fortified positions in one of Turkish military bases with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd66BGD4K6I
According to the Kurdish group’s claims, six Turkish service members were killed and seven others were injured in the attack. A tank of the Turkish military was also destroyed with an ATGM.
Turkey has not announced the loss of any of its soldiers as it usually does. This could mean that the personnel killed in the ALF attack were of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
In the last few months, the Turkish military and its Syrian proxies intensified their security operations inside and around Afrin. However, the ALF and other similar Kurdish insurgency groups are still operating in the area.
