A car bomb killed five people including three children in the Turkish-controlled region of northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The attack took place in Tal Halaf southwest of Ras al-Ayn, which was taken by the Turkish military during its offensive against Kurdish militants in October.

It blamed the attack on the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which has ties to the insurgent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Turkey.

"The PKK/YPG terror group continues its treacherous attacks targeting innocent civilians. The child murderers this time detonated a car bomb in a residential area in Tal Halaf southwest of Ras al-Ayn, killed five innocent civilians including three children," the ministry tweeted.