A handout picture released by the Syrian Civil Defence rescue workers, also known as White Helmets, shows the scene of a fuel truck bomb which killed 40 people including at least six Turkey-backed rebel fighters on April 28, 2020 in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, controlled by Ankara's proxies. (PHOTO / WHITE HELMETS, SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENCE / AFP)

DAMASCUS/ANKARA - An explosive device tore through a vehicle in Syria's northern city of Afrin on Tuesday, after 40 died in the first explosion that rocked the city earlier in the day, a war monitor reported.

40 people, including 11 children and six pro-Turkey fighters, were killed when an explosive device ripped through an oil tanker in Afrin

The second explosion occurred in the Mahmoudiyeh neighborhood in the city, leaving unknown losses, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Earlier on Tuesday, 40 people, including 11 children and six pro-Turkey fighters, were killed when an explosive device ripped through an oil tanker in Afrin, according to the Observatory.

ALSO READ: Assad: Kurdish controlled areas must return to state authority

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels captured Afrin from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in March of 2018.

Activists have, on more than one occasion, reported a state of rampant lawlessness in Turkey-controlled areas in northern Syria.

No party has claimed responsibility for the bombings yet but the Turkish Defence Ministry has blamed the attack on the Kurdish-led militias.

In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said the blast occurred in a crowded area in Afrin’s centre. A video shared by the ministry showed black smoke billowing in the air while ambulance and police sirens wailed in the background.

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil and has mounted military operations in northern Syria to push it back from the border.

READ MORE: Kurdish-led forces say they have pulled out of Syria border town

Tuesday’s blast was one of the deadliest to hit a region under the control of Turkish-backed forces. Ankara frequently blames the YPG for the attacks, while the militia says it does not target civilians.

The United States condemned the attack late on Tuesday, which State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said claimed “the lives of dozens of people shopping in the central market as they prepared to break the Ramadan fast.”

With Reuters inputs