About 200 Turkish soldiers from mechanized units and 150 Special Forces soldiers were involved in the cross-border action and were now involved in clearing operations, Andalou reported.
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A source within northern Syria’s autonomous Kurdish region confirmed the clashes.
The suicide attack at a police headquarters in a province bordering Syria and Iraq came two days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria, an operation meant to drive ISIS out of the border area and stop Kurdish militias from seizing ground in their wake.
Turkish tanks head to the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. The YPG has proven to be the most effective anti-ISIS force in northeastern Syria, but Turkey has charged that the YPG is a terrorist organization with links to the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Following IS’s defeat in Jerablus on Turkey’s border with Syria, Ankara issued an ultimatum to the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish paramilitary, which is backed by USA forces, that has retaken land in northern Syria from IS.
Turkish government claims the PYD and its military wing YPG stay close connections with the PKK including sending militant and ammunition through underground tunnels.
Turkey’s prime minister says any Kurdish entity at its border will not be tolerated.
Ankara says that the YPG has failed to stick to a promise made by its United States allies that the militia would move back east across the Euphrates following the seizure of the town of Manbij from IS earlier this month.
Syria activists say at least 15 civilians have been killed when suspected government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a wake for children killed in earlier airstrikes in rebel-held Aleppo. Minutes later, Khandakani said another barrel bomb was dropped, injuring an ambulance driver, and hampering rescue efforts.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and other senior officials have made clear that the incursion is as much about pushing away Islamic State as it is about preventing Kurdish forces filling the void left as the Islamists withdraw.
The Jarablus Military Council group, part of the Kurdish-backed SDF, said the attack on the village of al-Amarna caused civilian casualties and called it “a risky escalation that threatens the fate of the region”.
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The fighting erupted at the village of al-Amarna, some 10 km (6 miles) south of the border town of Jarablus that was seized by the Turkey-backed rebels from Islamic State this week. If the militant group succeeds in their aims, this would hamper the Turkish-led invasion seeking to secure a corridor between Azaz and Jarablus.
