Syria: 35 civilians killed, dozens wounded by Turkish bombing
Syria: 35 civilians killed, dozens wounded by Turkish bombing
Civilian death toll continues to rise as Turkey enters the fifth day of operations against the IS group and Kurdish militias in Syria.
2 min read
Turkish soldiers during preparations for the operation to take Jarablus [Getty]
Turkish shelling and airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 35 civilians on Sunday and injured scores more, a monitoring group has reported.
"At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and airstrikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa," a village south of Jarabulus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The SOHC later added that a further 15 civilians were killed in a seperate bombardment.
These latest strikes come as Tukey enters the fifth day of its incursion against Islamic State group fighters and Kurdish rebels. The Islamic state group has controlled territory along the Turkey-Syria border since 2013.
This also follows Turkey's first fatality in the cross-border conflict on Saturday, which was caused by rocket fire from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Ankara has for a long time accused Kurdish forces in Syria of being linked to Kurdish seperatist fighters in Turkey's southeast.
 |
Turkey launched its operation to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants on Wednesday, in partnership with the US-led coalition. |  |
Turkey launched its operation to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants on Wednesday, in partnership with the US-led coalition.
The head of the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, Emin Bozoglan, told Turkish media on Saturday that the operation plans to take next the IS-controlled al-Bab, which is near Syria's second city of Aleppo.
At the same time, Kurdish forces have also set their eyes on al-Bab, with the aim of connecting the main body of Kurdish-controlled territory east of the Euphrates with the Kurdish-controlled town of Afrin to the West.
Clashes erupted for the first time between Turkish forces backed by tanks and pro-Kurdish fighters in the town of Al-Amarneh on Saturday, also south of Jarabulus.
On the same day, Kurdish militants fired four rockets at the airport in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. No casualties were reported.
Ìý
