Two Turkish Soldiers Killed in Attack on Syrian Border

Turkish army soldiers stand guard as Kurdish people wait in a hope to enter Cizre, a town subject to a curfew as part of a controversial operation against Kurdish rebels, on March 22, 2016 in Mardin, for Newroz celebration. Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for ‘New Year’, is an ancient Persian festival, celebrated on the first day of spring, March 21, in Central Asian republics, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran. / AFP PHOTO / ILYAS AKENGIN

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:20 P.M.) – The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that two soldiers were killed along the border with Syria after a mortar attack near a military base.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said the two soldiers were killed in the southern part of the country in an attack near a military base in the town of Agca Castle on the border with Syria.

The ministry said in a statement: “The attack took place on Wednesday and targeted a base on the other side of the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, which was seized by Turkey and its Syrian opposition allies in a military operation against the YPG last month.”

The statement continued: “Turkish forces opened fire immediately towards the source of the attack and that operations in the region are continuing.”

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said last week that Turkish forces had taken control of 600 residential areas in a geographical area estimated to be 4,300 kilometers.

Akar pointed out that the Turkish army has established checkpoints on the M-4 highway, and that operations have resulted in the “neutralization of about 1200 terrorists” since the beginning of the operation “Peace Spring”, in addition to “neutralizing 158 terrorists from the PKK” during Operation ‘Claw’ in northern Iraq, the agency said .