Three more Turkish soldiers were killed Saturday in Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, including one in an attack on a tank, the army said. The latest clashes brought to 10 the number of Turkish troops killed so far in operation "Olive Branch", launched by Turkey on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia seen by Ankara as a terror group.
The Turkish army and allied Ankara-backed Syrian rebel forces are seeking to oust the YPG from its western border stronghold of Afrin but the operation so far has been marked by fierce clashes. The army said that one of the soldiers was killed in a clash and another on the border area, without giving further details. In a separate statement, it added a Turkish army tank had been hit in another attack, killing one serviceman and wounding another.
In retaliation, Turkish war planes carried out air strikes on the area from where the attack was carried out, destroying shelters and munitions dumps, it added.