AT LEAST four doctors have been kidnapped and one killed by Turkish forces and their jihadist allies as the death toll from Ankara’s invasion of northern Syria continues to rise.

The Kurdish Red Crescent said it had been targeted by Turkish forces and one of its doctors killed in an air strike early today.

In a statement, it also said that four Red Crescent members had been kidnapped in Tel Abyad by Turkish-backed jihadist groups on Sunday.

The health workers were on their way to a medical point to rescue wounded people when the two ambulances they were travelling in came under attack by jihadists. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

“Turkey bears full responsibility for their safety,” Kurdish Red Crescent sources said.

Water shortages have been reported in Hasakeh after Turkey targeted the main waterworks in Alok, which serves more than 500,000 people. 

Lack of water is also affecting all of the region’s hospitals, which are struggling to cope with the increasing casualties.

Clashes between fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Isis families were reported to have flared again in the Ayn Issa camp. Hundreds had already escaped on Sunday following Turkish air strikes in the area.

Sterk TV reporter Mohammed Hesen became the latest journalist to lose his life when he died in hospital of injuries sustained when a civilian convoy was hit by a Turkish air strike on Sunday.

That attack also killed Seed Ehmed of Hawar News, but fellow journalists Ersin Cakru, Bircan Yildiz and Rojbin Ekin survived.

The Free Media Union in Northern and Eastern Syria called on international journalists to improve “their media coverage of the repercussions of the Turkish army’s attack on the humanitarian situation in the safe areas of northern and eastern Syria.”

This call came as journalists were reported to be fleeing the country amid confusion over the arrival of Syrian government forces in the area.