27 Dec 2024
Thursday 20 October 2016 - 17:05
Story Code : 235763

Turkish jets kill scores of Syrian Kurdish militants



Turkey says itswarplanes have carried out more than twodozen airstrikes againstKurdish positions in northern Syria, killing scores of militants.

Jets carried out 26 airstrikes againstYPG targets, killing160 to 200 militants, the Turkish army said in a statement on Thursday.

The army saidjets hit militant targets in the villages of al-Hasiya, Um al-Qura and Um Hosh and destroyed nine buildings, one armored vehicle and four other vehicles that belonged to the Kurdish YPG militia.

The YPG forces had recently captured theareas from Daesh militants.

Turkeys attacks on YPG positions havebeen an ongoing source of contention between the United States and Turkey.

The US says it supports YPG and considers the militia group to be an effective force against Daesh Takfirisin Syria.

Ankara, however, says the YPG is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which it considersto be a terrorist organization.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo by AFP)[/caption]

Ankara wont "wait for terrorists to come and attack" Turkey, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the airstrikes.

In August, Turkey sent troops and tanks into northern Syria, without Damascus' consent, to help drive out Daesh militants and Syrian Kurdish forces from the area.

Ankara, who is an open backer of the forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is using its armor and air power to help the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants take territory near the border.

The FSA and its affiliated groups, including Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, as well as more than a dozen other militant groups are fighting the government in Damascus since the conflict broke out in 2011.

By Press TV

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