Istanbul: Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a car bomb attack in northern Syria where troops are helping Syrian rebels capture a key town from Daesh militants, reports said.
The attack took place near the town of Al Bab, 25km from the Turkish border, which has become a key target of the army’s more-than-three-month campaign inside Syria, the private NTV broadcaster said.
In November, however, four Turkish soldiers were killed by an air strike the army said it believed was carried out by President Bashar Al Assad’s forces.
Meanwhile, the army said on November 29 that two Turkish soldiers had gone missing in Syria, the first time such an incident had been reported in the campaign.
The Daesh-linked Amaq news agency claimed that the militant group had taken the pair hostage.
The Turkish government says its military offensive is seeking to cleanse its border from Daesh and Syrian Kurdish militia forces, regarded as a terror group by Ankara.
Turkey has for years been pressing for a safe zone inside Syria to shelter refugees along its border, but so far, its calls have not been heeded.
