ANKARA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish forces killed eight members of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria after they opened fire on Turkey's troops in the region, Turkey's Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
Turkish commandos immediately retaliated and killed eight YPG fighters after the group opened fire on Turkish troops positioned in the Operation Peace Spring zone, the ministry tweeted.
The statement came one day after the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported that the Turkish military destroyed over 20 targets of the YPG and killed several members of the group in Tel Rifaat town of northwestern Syria.
Turkey's move was in response to an incident in which rockets fired by the YPG across the Syrian border landed in the southern Turkish province of Kilis on Thursday, the agency reported on Saturday.
Turkey sees the YPG group as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, Operation Olive Branch in 2018, Operation Peace Spring in 2019 and Operation Spring Shield in 2020 in northern Syria, in order to create a YPG-free zone along its border within the neighboring country.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for over 30 years, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.
