Two Turkish soldiers were killed in action on Thursday and Friday amid Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria.
Two fallen soldiers, a specialized sergeant and an infantry private, died amid clashes with the People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorist group, the National Defense Ministry announced Friday.
Another soldier, a communications private, died during training exercises on Thursday, the ministry said.
The ministry later said another two soldiers, a specialized sergeant and infantry specialized corporal, were killed in a mortar attack by YPG terrorists near Syria's Afrin, the region where Turkey conducted Operation Olive Branch.
The Defense Ministry expressed condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers and the Turkish nation.
Two Syrian National Army (SNA) soldiers supporting the Turkish operation were also killed.
According to information from the SNA, one soldier was killed in Tal Abyad and the other in Ras al-Ayn. Nine SNA soldiers were also injured.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG), on Wednesday afternoon.
The operation, conducted in line with the country's right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.
Since 2016, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for nearly 400,000 Syrians who fled the violence to return home.