DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The death toll from a car bombing near a truck carrying agricultural workers in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Monday has risen to 18, including 14 women, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The attack, which also left 15 women injured, some in critical condition, took place on a main road on the outskirts of Manbij in Aleppo province. The victims were farm laborers returning from work.
“The perpetrator of this attack is undeniably a terrorist and a partner in the killing of the Syrian people,” said Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Britain-based war monitor.
Turkey-backed factions have accused the Kurdish-led so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of being behind the bombing.
The observatory noted that since the downfall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Manbij and its surrounding areas have been witnessing intense clashes between the SDF and the so-called Syrian National Army backed by Turkey.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Manbij, a strategic city near the Turkish border, has seen repeated bombings and clashes as competing factions, including Turkish-backed groups and the SDF, vie for control of the area. 
The attack marked the deadliest one to be carried out in the areas, which used to host a heavy presence of the US-backed so-called Syrian Democratic Forces militant group, since the ouster of the Arab country’s democratically-elected government of Bashar al-Assad at the hands of Western- and Israeli-backed militants.
On January 26, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based so-called monitor, reported that militants affiliated with the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that overran the entire country during the takeover, had carried out 35 summary executions over the previous 72 hours alone. 
SOHR said those executed were mostly former officers in the toppled government, who had presented themselves at the centers set up by the country’s new ruling entity.
Earlier reports had said that the new authorities installed by the HTS had carried out multiple arrests in the central Syrian province of Homs.