Kurdish rocket attack kills Turkish soldier in Syria

One Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a rocket attack by Kurdish militia on Saturday which destroyed two tanks taking part in Turkey's military offensive in northern Syria, state media said.

The unidentified dead soldier is the first confirmed fatality in the country's unprecedented operation which began on Wednesday in northern Syria.

The rocket fire came from members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Anadolu said.

Turkey considers the PYD and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia to be terror organisations, even though they are backed by Ankara's ally – the United States – as effective anti-jihadist fighting forces in Syria.

Anadolu said that the Turkish army responded to the rocket attack by shelling PYD targets in Syria, without giving further details.

The tanks were hit in the area of the Syrian town of Jarabulus, which Turkish forces helped pro-Ankara rebels seize from extremists on Wednesday, the Dogan news agency said.

Turkey has warned that its offensive in Syria is targeted against the Kurdish militia as well as Islamic State (IS) militants, warning the YPG to retreat from its recent advances.

Earlier, activists had reported the first fighting between the Kurdish forces and Turkish tanks inside Syria since Ankara began its offensive.

Turkey now has dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers on the ground in Syria and is ready to send more, media reports have said.