Turkey kills 21 Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, Iraq
The announcement comes after Kurdish groups said they had launched a counteroffensive against Turkish forces that entered Syria and taken territory
The Turkish defense ministry said that 21 Kurdish fighters had been killed in northern Syria and Iraq on Wednesday.
Twenty were killed in Syria, while one was killed in Iraq. Turkey said it had targeted Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Syrian Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG), the latter being a major component in the US-backed Syrian Defense Forces. Turkey considers both groups terrorist organizations.
This comes a day after a Kurdish counteroffensive to retake territory captured by Turkish forces, which were bolstered by reinforcements in Syria following the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad.