Turkish president: Helicopter downed in northern Syria

ISTANBUL — Four more Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Syria, the Turkish military announced late Saturday, bringing the day’s death toll to 11 in what has been the most lethal day since Ankara’s offensive on Syrian Kurdish militia began.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier a military helicopter was “downed” in the Afrin operation. Speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan didn’t mention by name the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, but hinted they were to blame.

The country’s prime minister walked back on the comments soon after, saying the cause of the helicopter’s crash was not yet clear and investigations were ongoing.

The Turkish military said in a statement two soldiers were killed when its attack helicopter crashed and was destroyed at around 1 p.m. local time. A technical team launched an investigation.

A spokesman for the Kurdish militia, Mustafa Bali, said his fighters downed the chopper in Raju, northwest Afrin.

In a video posted online by the YPGdominated Syrian Democratic Forces, a helicopter is seen flying over a tree-lined hill and another helicopter is captured during its crash. A helicopter is seen firing two rockets in the area as plumes of smoke from the crash rise over the trees.

Turkey launched a military offensive on Jan. 20 to oust the YPG from Afrin, citing national security. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization and an extension of an insurgency within its own borders that has fought for Kurdish autonomy for more than three decades.

The helicopter is the first aircraft Turkey announced it has lost since the offensive began. The Turkish president said, “We might lose a helicopter but they’ll pay the price for this.”