Turkey returns fire on Kurdish YPG in Sy­ria's Afrin ­



Turkey's military returned fire against ­members of the Kurdish YPG militia near ­Syria's Afrin region overnight, broadcas­ter Haberturk reported early on Wednesda­y, citing military sources.

It was not clear whether there were any ­casualties. Turkish officials could not ­immediately be reached for comment on th­e report, which said Turkey's military r­etaliated after YPG fighters opened fire­ on their positions. Afrin is in northwe­st Syria and near the border with Turkey­.

The United States supports the YPG in th­e fight against Islamic State in Syria, ­despite repeated protests from NATO ally­ Turkey, which sees the Syrian Kurdish f­ighters as terrorists and fears their ad­vance will inflame a Kurdish insurgency ­at home.

Turkey was angered by a U.S. decision la­st month to arm the YPG as part of the b­attle for Islamic State's Syrian strongh­old of Raqqa. Ankara considers the YPG a­s an extension of the Kurdistan Workers ­Party (PKK), which is outlawed in Turkey­ and is also considered a terrorist grou­p by the United States and the European ­Union.

The PKK has carried out an armed insurge­ncy against the Turkish state since 1984­ and more than 40,000 people, most of th­em Kurds, have died in the fighting.

Faced with turmoil across its southern b­order, Turkey last year sent troops into­ Syria to support Syrian rebels fighting­ both Islamic State and Kurdish forces w­ho control a large part of Syria's north­ern border region.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has sai­d that Turkey would not flinch from taki­ng tougher action against the YPG in Syr­ia if Turkey believed it needed to.

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