INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Turkish security forces attacked Kurdish militants in northern Syria and eastern Turkey, and Ankara said it will continue to destroy their
capabilities across the region as conflict escalated on Friday nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara.After U.S
forces shot down a Turkish drone in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey confirmed the incident but assigned no blame, indicating it may want
to contain any tensions with its NATO ally, Reuters reported.The military &neutralized& 26 Kurdish militants in northern Syria overnight in
retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base, the defense ministry said
Turkey typically uses the term &neutralize& to mean kill.The rocket attack on the base, by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, killed one
Turkish police officer and wounded seven officers and soldiers in northwest Syria&s Dabiq area on Thursday evening, Ankara said.Turkey also
conducted air strikes and destroyed 30 militant targets elsewhere in northern Syria on Thursday night, including an oil well, a storage
facility and shelters, the defense ministry said.On Friday, the ministry said Turkey&s military had conducted another round of air strikes
in northern Syria and destroyed 15 other militant targets where it said militants were believed to be
It did not say where in northern Syria the strikes, carried out at 1900 GMT, had hit.&As has been done in Iraq, all the capabilities and
revenue sources developed by the terrorist organisation in Syria will continue to be destroyed in a systematic way,& the foreign ministry
said in a statement.In Turkey, two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were &neutralized& in eastern Agri province in a clash with
commandos during an operation with combat drone and attack helicopter support, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement.He said
counter-terror police detained 75 people suspected of links to the PKK in an operation across 11 provinces.The PKK previously claimed
responsibility for Sunday&s bombing in Ankara that left the two attackers dead and wounded two police officers
Turkey said the attackers came from Syria but the Syrian SDF forces denied this.Turkey lists the YPG as a terrorist organization and says it
is indistinguishable from the PKK, which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have
been killed, Reuters reported.The United States and European Union deem the PKK as terrorists, but not the YPG.The post Turkey steps up
strikes on militants as conflict escalates in Syria first appeared on Ariana News.
