ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has sent military reinforcements to its southern border with Syria, dispatching artillery and tanks to the area overnight, Dogan news agency said on Saturday.

It said six howitzers and tanks with military vehicles were sent to Kilis province across the border from the Kurdish-controlled Syrian region of Afrin.

The Turkish army has clashed with Kurdish forces and their allies in the area in recent weeks, exchanging artillery and rocket fire, according to Kurdish officials.

The mounting tensions between two U.S. allies in northwest Syria raised fears last month of another major front in the multi-sided Syrian war.

Turkey sees the Kurdish YPG militia - which has established autonomy in areas along Syria’s northern border with Turkey - as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for decades.

There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials. Ankara has said it has no plan to launch a war against the YPG but that its forces would be ready to respond to any hostile move from across the border.