BEIRUT (AP) – Turkish army units have opened fire on fighters from the main Kurdish force in northern Syria deployed across the border in a majority Arab town, the Kurdish force and an allied rebel said Monday.
There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials on the shooting.
The U.S.-supported Kurdish militia known as the YPG said on its official Facebook page that Turkish military shot at its forces deployed in the town of Tal Abyad twice Sunday, using mostly machine guns. An allied rebel fighter from a contingent of Free Syrian Army fighters called Volcano of the Euphrates, Sharfan Darwish, said no one was injured in the shooting and the Kurdish forces didn’t return fire.
Kurdish fighters expelled Islamic State militants from the town in June, dealing a major blow to the extremist group’s abilities to access supply routes across the Turkish borders. Last week, Tal Abyad – which has a majority Arab population – was declared an independent administration allied with the semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.
The Kurdish capture of the town, and its subsequent inclusion under the semi-autonomous enclave, has irked neighboring Turkey, which fears the expansion of the influence of the Kurds, who represent about one fifth of Turkish population. A Kurdish insurgent group in Turkey is affiliated with Syria’s main political force and its allied fighters, the YPG, and has demands for greater autonomy and rights.