“Instead of targeting ISIS [IS] terrorist-occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders’ positions”, the YPG said at the time.
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Scientists say the group resorts to such attacks for their shock value and to spread fear.
The militants have also ransacked Palmyra’s priceless antiquities for sale on the black market.
The Ankara prosecutor’s office on Wednesday said there was “strong evidence” that the cell was also behind other attacks in the country, including one on the border with Syria in July, and was planning more atrocities.
Turkey pressed on with its “war on terror” on Tuesday, just five days before a pivotal election, detaining dozens of Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in massive police raids and hitting Kurdish rebels across the border in Syria.
Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that the military targeted the Kurdish forces in an interview with Turkey’s ATV television late on Monday.
Turkish officials expressed their opposition to PYD forces advancing west of the Euphrates River on the Syrian side of its 900-kilometer border.
“We have said PYD (alleged political leadership of the YPG) will not cross west of the Euphrates, we will hit them the moment they do, and we have struck them twice”, Davutoglu said, without providing any further details on the operations. “As soon as they pass, then we will shoot them.’ And we shot twice”, Davutolgu told A Haber channel, stressing that Turkey was a key player in Syria.
Furthermore, the mini-state is tightly controlled by the PYD, the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with whom the Turkish army has been fighting since 1984.
“As the ally countries would not tolerate excuses for arms support to al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, Turkey can not excuse any armed support to groups linked to the PKK”.
The prime minister’s remarks came as a response to allegations in the media that said “Russia, the US and Iran are seeking a solution for the conflict in Syria, but not Turkey”.
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Backed by U.S.-led air strikes, YPD fighters captured Tel Abyad in June from Islamic State, and this month a local leadership council declared the town part of the system of autonomous self-governing “cantons” run by the Kurds.
