Turkish air strike kills four in northeast Syria: monitor

 

Turkish warplanes struck a power plant in northeastern Syria, killing four, as other Kurdish targets across Iraq were targeted simultaneously.

A Turkish strike on a Kurdish-run power plant in northeastern Syria killed four people, a monitor said Wednesday, an operation Ankara said coincided with raids on Kurdish targets in Iraq.

The Tuesday night strikes hit a power plant near the town of Al-Malikiyah in Hasakeh province, where a brazen jailbreak attempt by the Islamic State group last month sparked days of clashes that have left hundreds dead, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"At least four people were killed in the strike targeting a power station near Al-Malikiyah," said the war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

It said the raids killed power plant staff and fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces -- the Kurdish administration's de-facto army. 

They also caused some damage to the power station resulting in a blackout in surrounding towns and villages, the war monitor added. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Ankara said its warplanes targeted several positions held by Kurdish armed groups in Iraq and Syria, including in Al-Malikiyah.

It said it hit suspected bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) which Ankara views as terrorists.

The YPG, which forms the backbone of the SDF, condemned the Turkish strikes that came on the heels of IS's largest Syria operation in three years.

"Turkey tries to continue what ISIS started," it said on Twitter, using a different acronym for IS.

"Everyone has to take action against this attack now."

Washington relied heavily on the SDF to defeat IS jihadists who overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

The SDF said 40 of its fighters as well as more than 70 prison guards and staff were killed in the week-long IS attack on the Ghwayran jail in Hasakeh.