AL-BAB, Syria

At least eight people were injured when a bomb-laden motorbike exploded in Syria's northern city of Al-Bab, local sources said Thursday.

The incident occurred in the city’s Kabbasin district, civil-defense spokesman Hasan Mohamed told Anadolu Agency.

“After the explosion, the injured were taken to a nearby hospital and fires caused by the blast were extinguished,” Mohamed said.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, security forces were quick to blame the attack on the YPG/PKK terrorist group.

Al-Bab was largely cleared of terrorist elements in 2016 as part of the Turkish military’s Operation Euphrates Shield.

Since 2016, Turkey has conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- with the aim of purging the region of terrorist groups.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

*Writing by Burak Bir