Turkey has had its deadliest day since the start of the Afrin offensive in Syria two weeks ago.

On Saturday, five Turkish soldiers were killed after their tank was attacked near the city, which is in Syria's north.

Earlier in the day, three of their comrades died.

One of them was killed in the same area as the tank attack, another elsewhere in northern Syria and a third on the Turkish side of the border in what Ankara said was an attack by Syrian Kurdish militiamen.

This means that 13 Turkish troops have died since 20 January - the beginning of the operation - which has been named Olive Branch by the Turks.


Turkey shares a 566-mile border with Syria and the YPG (People's Protection Units) controls much of the Syrian side.

But Turkey considers the US-backed Syrian Kurdish group a terrorist organisation, a growing power on its southern border which threatens its security.

Image: Casualty estimates vary but it is thought more than 100 YPG fighters have been killed

Turkey sent its troops into Afrin vowing to get rid of the YPG and it claims to have killed more than 900 of the group's fighters so far.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London, said it had counted 104 allied rebels and 102 YPG fighters killed since the beginning of the offensive.

Sixty-eight civilians have also died, it added.

Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin hinted that the operation might be expanded further east, telling reporters that Turkey would not put up with YPG "anywhere" on its southern border.

He also urged the US to "disengage" from the YPG and said Turkey would continue communications with "our American allies to avoid any confrontation".

Image: Afrin is in northern Syria, near the border with Turkey

The Turkish incursion into Afrin complicates matters for the US, which backed the YPG as they pushed out Islamic State.

Many European countries do not share Turkey's view of the YPG as terrorists.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said France would have a "real problem" if the situation in Afrin turned out to be an "invasion operation".

On Saturday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved to reassure Mr Macron, saying that Turkey had "no eye on the territory of another country", according to a report by the state-run news agency Anadolu.

Pilot ejects from shot down jet

Meanwhile, al Qaeda-linked militants have said they shot down a Russian fighter jet over the northwestern province of Idlib.

The pilot was filmed escaping from the plane as it came down and is believed to have avoided capture, shooting at the militants before they shot and killed him.

The Russian defence ministry confirmed the plane - an Su-25 - was brought down and that the pilot was killed in fighting against what it said were terrorists.

Russia is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and has been involved in the war since 2015.

Syrian troops have been making steady advances in Idlib, which is also a base for al Qaeda's Syrian branch and other Islamic militant groups.