Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-31 01:51:24|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- An explosion targeted a Turkish military convoy in the western countryside of Aleppo province in northern Syria on Tuesday, a monitor group reported.

The blast rocked the town of Atareb in western Aleppo, as a Turkish military vehicle was targeted, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Turkish driver of the vehicle was killed, it added.

The UK-based watchdog group said the Turkish military convoy was on standby awaiting orders to move toward the Eis area in the southern countryside of Aleppo, where Turkey is working to consolidate positions.

Earlier in the day, the Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said pro-Syrian government forces have targeted the path of a Turkish military convoy in southern Aleppo.

The Turkish military convoy was moving toward the town of Eis when the pro-government forces hit the convoy, prompting the Turkish military vehicles and accompanied forces to withdraw to the western countryside of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.

The convoy is the largest Turkish military convoy to enter that part of the country since the Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels unleashed an offensive to dislodge the Kurdish militias in northern Syria 10 days ago.

There was no confirmation from Damascus about the targeting of the Turkish convoy in Aleppo, but the Syrian government has warned that it would respond to the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish-held Afrin region in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

Other activists suggested that the Turkish convoy of 55 vehicles is still stuck in the western countryside of Aleppo by the pro-Syrian government forces.