Turkish strikes kill 20 Kurdish fighters
Turkish warplanes killed more than 20 Kurdish fighters yesterday in strikes in Syria and Iraq, where the Kurds are key players in the battle against the Islamic State group.
Turkey said it had carried out the strikes in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq against "terrorist havens" and vowed to continue action against groups it links to the outlawed Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK).
In northeastern Syria strikes targeting the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) -- who are leading the offensive against IS stronghold Raqa -- killed at least 18 people.
In northern Iraq they killed six peshmerga fighters from the autonomous Kurdish government, usually allied with Ankara, in an apparent accident. The peshmerga said the strike was "unacceptable" but blamed PKK-affiliated militia who were the apparent targets.
The strikes underlined the complexities of the battlefields in Iraq and Syria, where twin US-backed offensives are seeking to dislodge IS jihadists from their last major urban strongholds.
They could also exacerbate tensions between Ankara and its Nato ally Washington, which sees the Kurds as one of the most effective fighting forces against IS.
Turkey's army said it launched the strikes "in order to destroy terrorist havens targeting our country".
"The operations will continue to be carried out from now with the same determination until the very last terrorist is neutralised," the army said.
Meanhwile, air strikes on a rebel-held village in northwestern Syria early yesterday killed 12 people and put a nearby field clinic out of service. The dead were killed in a first round of raids in Idlib province.
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