Four teenage girls killed in suspected Turkish drone attack

Four teenage girls killed in suspected Turkish drone attack
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AANES claimed that a Turkish drone attack targeted an educational center on a road that links the town of Tel Tamr and the city of Hasakah. SOHR also confirmed the attack

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) claimed on Friday that a Turkish drone attack killed four teenage girls and 11 others in an educational center for girls in Northern Syria, the AANES-affiliated North Press Agency reported.

North Press said the center operated under the UN auspices in the village of Shmouka, Al-Hasakah.

The UK-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also confirmed the attack.

The targeted center is called the “Girls’ Center” and it is located nearly two kilometers away from the International Coalition base on the road between Al-Hasakah and Tel Tamr, SOHR said, adding that the center worked as a part of efforts to rehabilitate girls in the region before returning them back to their families. 

The attack coincided with the visit of a female commander of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) to the center, SOHR said. 

YPJ is one of the components of the US backed SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), the military wing of the AANES, a de facto authority in Northern Syria. 

Turkey refutes any Kurdish political or military formation in the region claiming they have links to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), an armed group fighting Turkey for four decades. 

On Thursday, another suspected Turkish drone strike attacked a sponge factory in the same region and killed two, according to SOHR.