Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Manbij, on the west bank of the Euphrates River, was captured from Islamic State (IS) militants earlier in August by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, after a 10-week USA -backed offensive.
Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 40 Syrians today, a monitor said, in the first significant civilian casualties in Turkey’s intensifying campaign in northern Syria.
Since then, fighting has continued near Jarablus between Turkish forces and the YPG Kurdish militia, which Ankara considers a terror group linked to the Kurdish PKK militia-a militia Turkey is fighting inside its own country.
The Anadolu Agency said two Turkish tanks in the Syrian town of Jarablus came under rocket attack by Kurdish militants.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep on Turkey’s border with Syria, said: “The Turkish army has intensified its military operation following the death of a Turkish soldier”.
The monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that at least 35 civilians were killed south of Jarablus during fighting between Turkish-backed forces and rival Kurdish-aligned Syrian militias.
On Sunday, Turkish forces ramped up their offensive against pro-Kurdish forces near a town wrested back from IS this week by Turkish-backed Arab rebels.
In a statement Saturday, Kurdish forces accused Ankara of seeking to “expand its occupation” inside Syria.
The SDF, which is spearheaded by the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, has been lauded by both Russian Federation and the West as one of the most effective forces fighting Isis, and has received extensive U.S. support.
The FSA expanded at the expanse of ISIS and Kurdish forces, while Turkish warplanes raided Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions south the city of Jarablus in the countryside of northeast Aleppo.
Mourners carry a coffin during a funeral procession in Gaziantep, Turkey on August 21, 2016, a day after a bombing at a wedding party in the southeastern city killed over 50 people.
The operation, labeled Euphrates Shield, is also aimed at pushing back USA -allied Kurdish forces.
A captain with the Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the aim was to push the YPG back to the east bank of the Euphrates river, a position the USA has agreed they should occupy.
The campaign marked the first outright military intervention of the Turkish army in the quagmire of the Syrian war.
That adds complexity to the Syrian conflict that erupted five years ago with an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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Global powers have been pushing for 48-hour humanitarian ceasefires in the embattled city and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has urged warring parties to announce by today whether they will commit to a pause in the fighting.
