Four Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded in two separate cross-border attacks by PKK militants on Saturday, the defense ministry said, adding that the army had retaliated in both cases,Trend reports citing Reuters.
One Turkish soldier was killed and another was lightly wounded after an attack by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat, the defense ministry said in a statement.
The attack took place in a region where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed Euphrates Shield in 2016, aimed at driving Islamic State militants and the YPG from its border with Syria, the ministry said.
It said the army had retaliated with artillery fire but gave no further details on the whereabouts of the attack.
Three other Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in the southeastern province of Hakkari, which borders northern Iraq, after PKK militants shelled the region, the defense ministry said in a separate statement.
It said the military had returned fire and launched a cross-border operation in the region backed by fighter jets to destroy the militant targets.
Turkey’s military has regularly carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. It also shelled YPG positions in the Tel Rifaat region earlier this year, saying this was in response to YPG fire.