The European Union criticized on Monday Ankara’s military operation in the town of Afrin in northern Syria, expressing concern over the escalation in fighting in the war-torn country. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that international efforts in Syria are supposed to be "aiming at de-escalating the military activities and not escalating them." "I am worried about this," she told reporters in Brussels. She urged Turkey, Russia and Iran to guarantee that conflict "de-escalation zones" are established as promised, to "guarantee that that is what happens on the ground." On Sunday, Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters allied with Ankara marched into Afrin, nearly two months after Turkey began its offensive against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the enclave. Ankara has vowed to push it out of Afrin and away from its borders. Turkey considers the YPG a "terrorist" group and an extension of its own Kurdish insurgency within Turkey. Later on Monday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag announced that his country’s forces will not remain in Afrin and will leave the region to its "real owners". He told reporters that Turkey had significantly reduced threats to its borders after capturing the town. He said Turkey had collected "most" of the weapons given to Kurdish fighters by the United States, after the YPG left weapons behind as they fled the town. Meanwhile, Turkeys state-run news agency said 11 people — seven civilians and four Turkish-backed Syrian fighters — were killed in an explosion in a building in Afrin town center as it was being cleared of booby traps. Anadolu News agency said the bomb was reportedly left by Syrian Kurdish fighters. Earlier, a senior Syrian Kurdish official said Turkeys offensive is an "occupation" that endangers the rest of northern Syria. Aldar Khalil, a leading Kurdish official, condemned Ankara for the assault and for raising the Turkeys flag in a Syrian town. He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to spread his influence in Syria as a way of restoring the Ottoman empires former influence. "The whole of northern Syria is in danger,” he stated. Also on Monday, a Syrian Kurdish official from Afrin told Reuters that more than 200,000 people who fled the area are without shelter or access to food and water in nearby areas. "The people with cars are sleeping in the cars, the people without are sleeping under the trees with their children," said Hevi Mustafa, a top member of the Kurdish civil authority in the Afrin area. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called for greater access to the civilian population of Afrin, declaring that the Turkish Red Crescent lacked credibility among the Syrian Kurds after Ankaras military operation. ICRC President Peter Maurer, speaking on return from a two-week trip to Syria, Iraq and Iran, told reporters in Geneva: "...the credibility of a Turkish Red Crescent working in Afrin with the Kurdish population is close to zero". The ICRC is helping some of the thousands of displaced civilians who have fled Afrin to villages near Aleppo, but needs regular access to Afrin, where civilians have the right to neutral, impartial aid and the right to leave or stay, he said.