DAMASCUS, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and 17 others wounded on Sunday when a car bomb went off in a Turkey-held area in the countryside of the northern province of Raqqa, state news agency SANA reported.

The explosive-laden car was detonated in the village of Slouk in the northern countryside of Raqqa, said SANA, adding that the village is occupied by the Turkish forces and Turkey-backed rebels.

SANA said many of the wounded people are in critical condition.

Turkey has captured several areas in northern and northeastern Syria following the wide-scale offensive it had launched last month against the Kurdish militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces and its broader umbrella of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as YPG, as Ankara deems these groups as terrorists and separatists.

A few deals have taken place since Oct. 9 under the Russian mediation, which led to halting the fights in some areas and the entry of Syrian troops to Kurdish-held areas on the Syrian-Turkish border to strip Turkey of its pretext to continue the offensive.

However, Turkey has recently charged that the Kurdish militia did not withdraw from certain areas near the Turkish border as planned, which explains the renewed fighting between the Kurdish militia and the Kurdish-backed rebels. Enditem