Turkish army: 3 soldiers killed in suspected Assad airstrike

An airstrike thought to have been carried out by Syrian government forces killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 10 others overnight, one of them seriously, the Turkish military said today.

The attack occurred at around 03:30 (00:30 GMT) in the course of a Turkish-led Syrian rebel operation in northern Syria, the army statement said. It said the wounded soldiers were evacuated rapidly from the area.

It would be the first time Turkish soldiers are known to have been killed by Syrian government forces in the offensive, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, which was launched on 24 August.

The operation aims to push Daesh, as well as the Kurdish YPG militia, away from the Syrian side of Turkey’s border and has advanced to near the city of Al-Bab, which is controlled by the jihadists.

Earlier, security and hospital sources in Turkey said Daesh fighters had carried out an attack which killed three Turkish soldiers in the Al-Bab region.

They said the wounded soldiers were transferred to hospitals in the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep.