More than 14 Kurd militants killed in Syria, claims Turkey

The Defence Ministry reported on Saturday that Turkish forces had “neutralised” at least 14 Kurdish militants in northern Syria after midnight attacks on militant targets as the fighting in the area worsened over a week after a bombing in Ankara. Following the PKK’s claim of responsibility for the bombing in Ankara on Sunday that left two police officers injured and the two attackers dead, Turkey said this week that all targets associated with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were “legitimate targets” for its forces. The Syrian SDF soldiers refuted Turkey’s claim that the attackers were Syrian nationals. Since the bombing, Ankara has intensified its airstrikes and ground operations against militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq. “Targets belonging to PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria’s Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Peace Spring operation areas were hit strongly all night long,” the ministry said, referring to regions where Turkey has previously mounted incursions. “According to initial findings, at least 14 terrorists have been neutralised,” it added, using a term it typically uses to mean killed. The ministry claimed late on Friday that airstrikes by the Turkish military in northern Syria had destroyed 15 terrorist locations where militants were allegedly hiding. President Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey “may suddenly come one night” in a speech at the congress of his ruling AK Party on Saturday in Ankara, using a phrase he frequently uses to refer to extremists in Syria and Iraq. “We will implement our strategy of ending terror at its root with determination, and hold the PKK, FETO, and Daesh to account over every drop of blood they have spilled,” he said, referring to Islamic State and the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in July 2016. The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, which claims the YPG is identical to it. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and EU, but not the YPG. The SDF forces in the coalition led by the United States fighting Islamic State extremists are centred around the YPG. Tension with Turkey has long been a result of U.S. support for them. An armed Turkish drone that was flying close to American forces in Syria on Thursday was shot down by the US, escalating the tense situation for the first time ever. Turkey is a NATO ally of the US. Following the event, Ankara and Washington spoke on the phone several times, with Turkey promising to keep attacking militants in Syria and Iraq while promising to establish non-conflict mechanisms with the parties on the ground. Turkey, which has launched numerous incursions into northern Syria to combat the YPG, has stated that one of its options could be to launch a ground assault there. (With agency inputs)