Turkey has carried out a wave of airstrikes against Kurdish fighters in Iraq and northern Syria, further complicating Washington’s effort to rally Kurds and Turks in the fight against the Islamic State (Isil).

Turkey’s military said the strikes were aimed at the PKK Kurdish terrorist group, which regularly carries out attacks against Turkey. Two weeks ago the group took credit for a bombing at a police station which killed three people.

But the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria and the Peshmerga forces in Iraq both said their forces had been targeted in the Turkish strikes. Both the YPG and the Peshmerga are US allies fighting on the front lines against Isil.