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Two Turkish soldiers killed in Daesh attack in N Syria

Tuesday, 06 September 2016 6:04 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 06 September 2016 6:03 PM ]

Turkish soldiers stand in an army tank returning to Turkey from the Syrian city of Jarablus on September 2, 2016. ©AFP

The Turkish military says two of its troopers have been killed and five others injured in an attack by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in northern Syria.

In a statement carried by Turkey’s NTV television on Tuesday, the army said the casualties came after a Daesh rocket attack on two of its tanks south of the town of al-Ra’i, near the Turkish border.

The fatalities were the first of Turkey's recent incursion into Syria to be blamed on Daesh.

The Turkish television showed pictures of military helicopters flying across the Turkish-Syrian border to take the wounded to Turkey for treatment.

Separately, two pro-Turkey Syria militants were killed and two others sustained injuries in clashes in the same region, the Turkish army statement added.

On August 24, Turkish special forces, tanks and jets backed by planes from the US-led coalition launched their first coordinated offensive in Syria. Damascus denounced the intervention as a breach of its sovereignty.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation, dubbed "Euphrates Shield," was aimed at “terror groups” such as Daesh and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a US-backed Kurdish group based in Syria.

Hours after the beginning of the offensive, Turkish-backed militants seized the city of Jarablus, with Ankara saying that it wanted to establish a safe zone in the 98-kilometer (61-mile) area stretching from Jarablus to the city of A'zaz.

Terrorist attacks kill 10, wound 15 in Syria

Also on Tuesday, terrorists fired rocket shells on al-Athamiyeh neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, leaving six civilians dead and 12 more injured. A woman and two children were among those killed in the assault.

Syrians inspect damage caused by terrorist rocket attacks in a street in the government-held area of Aleppo on July 11, 2016. ©AFP

Additionally, similar rocket attacks by Daesh terrorists on al-Qusour and Harabesh neighborhoods of Dayr al-Zawr claimed the lives of four civilians and left three others injured.

Syria has been the scene of a foreign-backed crisis since March 2011.

Turkey is said to be among the main supporters of the militant groups active in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri elements there and facilitates their safe passage into the violence-wracked country.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk