On May 18, 2022, a joint team of Turkish and Syrian security forces arrested two women wearing two identical PBIEDs in the city of Afrin, in Aleppo Governorate, in northwestern Syria. Each IED was cased in a lumbar support belt, which the women were wearing on their bodies, hidden under their clothing. Each IED was connected to an RC initiation system, and the corresponding transmitters were also found in the possession of the women. According to security forces, the women were sent by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units to carry out attacks in the city of Afrin. This phenomenon, in which IEDs connected to RC initiation systems are smuggled by civilian couriers, usually women, sent by the Kurdish People’s/Women’s Protection Units to areas controlled by forces loyal to Turkey throughout northern Syria, is not new. In recent months, such incidents have increased, and according to forces loyal to Turkey, these have included scenarios where the PBIEDs were RC-initiated while being worn by the unwitting couriers, in a manner that simulates a suicide bombing, and apparently without the couriers’ prior knowledge.
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