Turkish military and Syrian National Army (SNA) forces on Sunday took control of the western part and a central district of Syria's Tal Abyad town as Turkey's Operation Peace Spring entered its fifth day.

Turkish and SNA forces continue fighting with People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorists in the eastern districts of the town.

With the recent advancements, the number of villages liberated in northern Syria's Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn during Operation Peace Spring has reached 42.

Meanwhile, defense ministry said the number terrorists neutralized in the operation has risen to 525.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

The ministry provided the latest figure on Twitter amid Turkey's Operation Peace Spring, which it said continued successfully throughout the night.

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 October 9 at 4 p.m.

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.