Istanbul: One Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded when security forces clashed with Kurdish militants crossing over from Syria, the army said on Wednesday, hours after Ankara summoned the US ambassador over Washington`s support for Syrian Kurds.
The latest clash could add to Turkish frustrations with its NATO ally Washington which supports the PYD Syrian Kurds in the battle against Islamic State in Syria.
Ankara sees the fighters as terrorists, citing their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a violent, three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey`s southeast.
As well as battling both a Kurdish insurgency and Islamic State, Turkey has been grappling with an influx of more than 2.5 million refugees since the start of the Syrian civil war.
Separately, military sources said the army seized up to 15 kg of explosives and four suicide-bomber vests when it detained 34 people trying to cross into Turkey from an area in Syria under Islamic State control. It has announced such seizures in the past.
Turkish soldiers spotted seven PKK militants entering Sirnak province`s Cizre district from Syria on Tuesday evening and, as they clashed, one soldier was killed and one wounded, the Turkish armed forces said.
In another incident, one police officer was killed and another wounded when PKK rebels launched a rocket attack on an armoured vehicle in the town of Sirnak, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear when that attack occurred.
