Turkish Army Pounds Syrian Kurdish Village

Mon Jul 27, 2015 14:06:37

At least four allied militants were injured in shelling by Turkish tanks against a Kurdish-held village in Northern Syria as Turkey pushes ahead with its campaign of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Al-Alam News Network reports.

"A number of shells fired by Turkish tanks fell on the village of Zur Maghar, which is controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)," the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday, Press TV reported.

The director of the Britain-based observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said those wounded in the overnight attacks were not members of the YPG fighting alongside the Kurds against the ISIL terrorists.

He added that the shelling appeared to be the most serious Turkish targeting of Kurdish-held areas in the Syrian conflict.

Zur Maghar lies in the Northern Syrian province of Aleppo on the border with Turkey.

In a statement, the YPG confirmed the "heavy tank fire", saying the attack also wounded several villagers.

It said there was a second, later round of shelling against Zur Maghar and another village in the same area.

"Instead of targeting ISIL terrorist occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders' positions," the statement said.

"We urge (the) Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines. We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions."

The attack came as ambassadors of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are scheduled to hold a meeting in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Tuesday for talks called by Turkey over Ankara’s military operations against Takfiri ISIL terrorists and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group.

Turkey launched a military campaign against what it purports to be ISIL targets in Syria and PKK positions in Northern Iraq on Friday, following an attack in the Southwestern Turkish town of Suruç, which claimed the lives of at least 32 people, on July 20.

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