LOC01:53
22:53 GMT
ISTANBUL, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- A Turkish soldier was killed and three others were injured on Saturday when their two tanks came under a missile attack by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) militants in northern Syria.
The casualties are the first for Turkey since the launch of Operation Euphrates Shield to rid the border region of terrorists on Wednesday, Turkey's Anadolu Agency (AA) reported, citing a military source.
The rocket attack took place some seven km. (four miles) to the south of Syrian Jarabulus city which has recently been freed from militants belonging to the PYD and the so-called Islamic State (IS or Daesh).
The source affirmed that the assailants belong to the PYD group, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist organization that has been waging a war on Turkey since 1984.
Turkish forces retaliated with artillery fire, the source added, and military helicopters airlifted the soldiers to hospitals in Turkey's Gaziantep province.
Euphrates Shield saw the Turkish military back the Free Syrian Army with artillery, tanks, air power and special forces in taking Jarabulus, which lies to the west of the Euphrates River and around a kilometer (mile) to the south of the Turkish border. (end)
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