7 Turkish soldiers killed in fight with Kurdish militia
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Ankara, Feb. 4: Seven Turkish soldiers were killed in Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, including five who died in a single attack on a tank, the army said.
The losses marked the highest toll in one day for the Turkish military in operation “Olive Branch”, launched on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units ( YPG) militia seen by Ankara as a terror group.
Saturday’s attack on the tank, details of which were not disclosed, was also the single deadliest attack on the military of the offensive so far.
The latest clashes brought to 14 the number of Turkish troops killed so far in operation.
The Turkish army and allied Ankara- backed Syrian rebel forces are seeking to oust the YPG from its western border stronghold of Afrin, but the operation so far has ■ ■ been marked clashes.
The army said that one of the soldiers was killed in a clash and another on the border area, without giving further details.
In a later statement, it added a Turkish army tank had been hit in another attack, killing all five servicemen inside.
A previous statement said one serviceman was killed and another wounded by fierce in that attack. In retaliation, Turkish war planes carried out air strikes on the area from where the attack was carried out, destroying shelters and munitions dumps, it added. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thur- sday the Turkish army and Ankara- backed rebels had suffered 25 fatalities between them in the operation so far.
Meanwhile, seven civilians were killed in mortar fire on the Turkish side of the border that Ankara blames on the YPG.
Ankara says that major progress has been made in the 15- day operation, with almost 900 YPG fighters killed so far although it is not possible to verify these figures.
Erdogan sought to reassure France’s Emmanuel Macron over the operation, telling him it was aimed against “terror elements” and that Ankara had no eye on Syrian territory.