Russian Police Armoured Vehicle in Syria Targeted by Pipe Bomb - Defence Ministry

Kobane, officially known as Ayn al-Arab, was one of the centres of the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomy in Syria’s north. The US military left bases near Kobane following the launch of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring. After talks with the Kurds, the Syrian Army entered the city.

An improvised explosive device has gone off in front of a Russian armoured police vehicle in Syria, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry's statement, the incident occurred as a Russian-Turkish joint patrol conducted route reconnaissance some 1.5 kilometres to the west of a town in the Kobane district of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria.

The three servicemen who were in the vehicle at the moment of the explosion sustained minor non-life-threatening injuries, the ministry added. There was some damage to the vehicle as well.

On 22 October, Turkey and Russia concluded a memorandum that detailed conditions for a peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish forces to a distance of 18.6 miles from the Turkish border. The 10-point document envisions regular joint patrol missions to ensure the implementation of the deal.

The adoption of the memorandum comes after a week-long military operation launched by Turkey on 9 October that sought to rid the region of the SDF, viewed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey due to its ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.