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Turkish shelling in northern Syria kills Russian solider and wounds several others

TURKISH shelling in northern Syria today hit a vehicle, killing a Russian solider and wounding several others, in the latest incident escalating tensions.

It followed a day of clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops in the region that left several Kurds dead.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported casualties occurred when Turkish troops shelled a road linking the villages of Herbel with Um Hawsh, in Aleppo province.

Kurdish news agency Hawar News identified the vehicle as Russian while the North press agency said there were three wounded alongside the dead solider.

Turkey’s Defence Ministry claimed that at least 12 members of the Kurdish YPG militia were killed after what it said was a retaliation attack.

The observatory reported that a Turkish drone attack late on Saturday had killed three YPG fighters and wounded two others prior to the shelling the next day.

The Kurdish-linked Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Siamand Ali said that Turkish troops have intensified their attacks on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria in the run-up and aftermath of last month’s presidential elections in Turkey — re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been using the conflict to bolster his support at home.

On Sunday, Hawar reported that the Turkish army targeted the villages of Beluniye in Shehba canton; Merenaze, Sewarxa, Malikiye, Tat Meraa in Afrin’s Shera district; and the village of Bene in Sherawa district.

Turkish officials said that two of its soldiers were killed on the same day, blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, an independence-seeking military group based in Turkey that it labels  a terrorist organisation.

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