ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq  - Fifteen people were killed and a similar number injured in a car bombing in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, according to the Syrian Civil Defense.

"A horrific massacre claimed the lives of 14 women and one man, and injured 15 women, some of them seriously,” the Syrian Civil Defense announced.

It added that "the death toll is likely to rise.”

The statement identified the victims as "farm workers” who were driving next to the vehicle rigged with explosives.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. 

This is the second explosion of its kind in less than a week. On Saturday, a car exploded in the Manbij city center, killing four civilians and wounding nine others, including three children. 

The wave of explosions in and around Manbij comes at a time when the region has recently seen heightened clashes between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey-backed Syrian rebel groups ever since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. 

Before the fall of Assad, the northern towns of Tal Rifaat and Manbij were under the control of the US-backed SDF forces. 

The SDF, considered the Kurdish de facto army in Syria and the US’ primary ally in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, controls the bulk of northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.

Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, to be inextricably linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), however, the YPG insists that they merely subscribe to a similar ideology.