AFP, Beirut :Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 35 civilians in Syria on Sunday, the fifth day of an incursion against Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish militia, a monitor said.”At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa,” a village south of Jarabulus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Britain-based group said four local fighters were also killed in the bombardment.It also reported another 15 civilians killed and 25 wounded, many seriously, in Turkish air strikes near the town of Al-Amarneh, also south of Jarabulus.The deaths come after Turkey on Saturday suffered its first fatality since launching operation “Euphrates Shield” in Syria, blaming Kurdish militia in a fight for control of the border region.The Observatory said the bombardment targeted an area south of the former Islamic State group stronghold of Jarabulus, which Turkish-led forces captured on the first day of the incursion.Jeb el-Kussa is located 14 kilometres (almost nine miles) south of Jarabulus and is controlled by fighters from the area backed by Kurdish forces.On Saturday, clashes erupted for the first time between Turkish forces backed by tanks, and pro-Kurdish fighters in the town of Al-Amarneh, also south of Jarabulus.Turkey considers the main armed force of Syria’s Kurds, the YPG, to be a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is deems a “terrorist” organisation.Its military intervention has further complicated a conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population since March 2011.Meanwhile, Turkey said the military suffered its first fatality in an unprecedented four day campaign inside Syria, blaming Kurdish militia in an increasingly combustible contest for control in the border region.The Turkish army on Wednesday launched the two-pronged cross border offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists but also Syrian Kurdish militia detested by Ankara, sending in dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops.Tensions between Ankara and the Kurdish militia flared Saturday, with clashes taking place eight kilometres (five miles) south of the town of Jarabulus, the border town recaptured from IS this week by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, a monitoring group and Kurdish sources said.Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency later said one Turkish soldier was killed and three more wounded in a rocket attack by Kurdish militia on two tanks taking part in the offensive.The dead soldier-who has not been identified-was the first confirmed Turkish fatality of Turkey’s unprecedented operation in northern Syria which has so far proceeded with lightning pace.The toll was confirmed by a Turkish official, without giving further details.The rocket fire came from members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Anadolu said. Turkey considers the PYD and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia to be terror organisations.Anadolu said that the Turkish army responded to the rocket attack by shelling PYD targets in Syria, without giving further details.The self-proclaimed Kurdish authorities in northern Syria said in a statement that the local fighters backed by Kurdish forces “destroyed two tanks and killed its crews” near the village of Al-Amarneh.In a separate incident Saturday, Kurdish militants fired four rockets at the airport in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, without causing casualties, the Dogan news agency said.
