
FILE - In this March 24, 2018 file photo, Turkish soldiers atop an armored personnel carrier secure the streets of the northwestern city of Afrin, Syria, during a Turkish government-organized media tour into northern Syria. Turkish military said Sunday, March. 31, 2019 that one of its soldier has been killed in Syria’s north in what Syrian activists describe as an attack by local Kurdish fighters. Turkey's ministry of defense said a mortar attack Sunday on its troops around Afrin in northwestern Syria killed one soldier and wounded another. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
BEIRUT – The Turkish military says one of its soldiers has been killed in northern Syria, blaming "terrorists" for the attack and responded with a barrage of shelling.
Turkey's ministry of defense said a mortar attack on Sunday near the town of Afrin killed one soldier and wounded another. It said Turkey responded by shelling "terrorist targets."
Turkey and allied Syrian fighters took control of Afrin last year, expelling local Kurdish fighters that Ankara considers terrorists and setting off attacks against Turkey's presence there.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkey responded to the attack on its forces with a barrage of shells against several villages to the north of Afrin, mainly causing material damage. The Kurdish-run Hawar news agency reported the shelling but gave no details on casualties.