Rocket fire in northern Syria kills one Turkish officer and injures three others

Turkish Ministry of Interior Affairs suggests that one Turkish police officer was killed and three others were injured by rocket fire from Kurdish insurgents in northern Syria. According to the statement by the ministry, one of the injured is in critical condition. The casualties happened when YPG/PKK terrorists used a guided missile to assault an armoured vehicle in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone. 

Between August 2016 and March 2017, the Turkish military conducted Operation Euphrates Shield across the border to combat the Islamic State terrorist organisation and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The ministry said, "As a result of an attack on an armoured vehicle with the use of guided missiles by members of the YPG/PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] terrorist group in the Azaz area of Operation Euphrates Shield, one Turkish special force police officer was killed and three injured."

Turkey has been conducting operations in northern Iraq and Syria against terrorist organisations

Turkey has been conducting operations in northern Iraq and Syria against terrorist organisations, primarily the PKK and its Syrian branch, the YPG. Since 2019, as a part of Operation Pençe-imşek and Operation Pençe-Yldrm in northern Iraq, terrorists have been neutralised, according to Hürriyet Daily News. 

In addition, three effective anti-terror operations have been conducted across Turkey's border in northern Syria since 2016, which includes, Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist group by a number of countries and organisations including Turkey, the United States, the European Union and NATO, has killed at least 40,000 people, including women, children and babies in its more than 35-year terror campaign, according to Hürriyet Daily News. 

Turkey has denounced Syria for backing the PKK and has claimed that Syria used Alois Brunner, an Austrian Schutzstaffel officer to train Kurdish militants to attack Turkey.

Syria-Turkey relations

The self-annexation of the Hatay Province to Turkey in 1939, water disputes resulting from the Southeastern Anatolia Project, and Syria's support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the now-defunct Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, have all contributed to Turkey-Syria relations being traditionally tense. 

When PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was expelled by Syrian authorities in October 1998, relations improved significantly. However, the Syrian civil conflict has strained relations between the two countries once again, leading to diplomatic contact being suspended.

(Inputs from ANI)

Image: PTI/ Representative