Turkey kills hundreds of Kurds fighting IS in Syria

Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State, north-east of Aleppo, last night after claiming they were PKK fighters.

According to Turkish military reports, Turkey carried out 26 strikes on 18 Kurdish positions, killing 160 to 200 militants as part of Operation Euphrates Shield.

Turkey considers the Kurdish group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to be a cover group for the PKK, a banned terrorist group in Turkey.

“The PKK dominates the SDF; the decisions are being taken by the [terrorist] organization,” Abdulkarim al-Ubaid, a former SDF official told Turkey's state-run Anadolu News Network.

Airstrikes targetted SDF positions in al-Hasiya, Um al-Qura and Um Hosh, which the group had recently captured from IS in north Syria.

Kurdish groups are currently engaging IS in the Mosul offensive and in north Syria, using weapons and resources they are reported to have sourced from the United States.

The PKK has been involved in an increased wave of violence and terrorist attacks on the Turkish mainland recently, the most recent of which was a foiled plot near the Syrian border which killed three police officers on Sunday.

Reuters reports that the Turkish intervention also prevented three separate and autonomous Kurdish rebel groups from joining up on the Turkish border.