Turkish soldiers clash with Kurdish militants crossing from Syria: Army
Date
2/10/2016 12:09:26 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Kurdish members of the Self-Defense Forces stand near the Syrian-Turkish border in the Syrian city of al-Derbasiyah during a protest against the operations launched in Turkey by government security forces against the Kurds February 9 2016. REUTERS/ Rodi Said
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL: One Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded when security forces clashed with Kurdish militants crossing over from Syria the army said on Wednesday hours after Ankara summoned the U.S. ambassador over Washington's support for Syrian Kurds.
The latest clash could add to Turkish frustrations with its NATO ally Washington which supports the PYD Syrian Kurds in the battle against Islamic State in Syria.
Ankara sees the fighters as terrorists citing their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has carried out a violent three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast.
As well as battling both a Kurdish insurgency and Islamic State Turkey has been grappling with an influx of more than 2.5 million refugees since the start of the Syrian civil war.
Separately military sources said the army seized up to 15 kg of explosives and four suicide-bomber vests when it detained 34 people trying to cross into Turkey from an area in Syria under Islamic State control. It has announced such seizures in the past.
Turkish soldiers spotted seven PKK militants entering Sirnak province's Cizre district from Syria on Tuesday evening and as they clashed one soldier was killed and one wounded the Turkish armed forces said.
In another incident one police officer was killed and another wounded when PKK rebels launched a rocket attack on an armored vehicle in the town of Sirnak state-run Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear when that attack occurred.
ENVOY SUMMONED
The area of Syria near where the soldiers clashed is controlled by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). Tensions between Ankara and Washington flared up again over the PYD after State Department Spokesman John Kirby said on Monday the United States did not regard the group as a terrorist organization.
In response Ankara summoned the U.S. ambassador to express its displeasure.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that the United States' refusal to label the PYD as terrorists while applying that label to the PKK was unacceptable.
"If you're putting one of them on your terror list and ignoring the other that's naive to say the least - and unacceptable" Cavusoglu said while on an official visit to Hungary.
Turkey fears that the advances by Syrian Kurds against Islamic State on its 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria will fuel separatist ambitions among its own Kurds.
It has been conducting a violent crackdown on the PKK in the southeast with hundred of militants security force members and civilians killed as the military tries to force the PKK out of towns and cities across the region.
REUTERS