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SYRIA-CONFLICT-TURKEY-MILITARY
Syrian Kurd militia attack kills Turkish soldier: ministry
ISTANBUL, June 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Turkish soldier was killed and five
were wounded Wednesday in clashes with Syrian Kurdish militia forces, the
defence ministry said.
“Our hero comrade fell martyr and five were wounded during the clashes
with the terrorists,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to the
People’s Protection Units (YPG).
It did not say where the exchange happened.
The Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said it was a rocket attack on a Turkish position in northern Aleppo.
Turkey says the YPG is a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and
is branded as a terrorist group by Ankara.
While Turkey’s Western allies have also designated the PKK a terrorist
organisation, they support the YPG as a crucial force in the fight against
the Islamic State group.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:11 hrs