2 civilians dead, 12 injured in YPG mortar attack targeting Turkey's Mardin
| AA Photo


Two civilians died, 12 others were injured after the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorists carried out a mortar attack targeting Kızıltepe district in southeastern Turkey's Mardin province, reports said Tuesday.

Paramedics and emergency teams were dispatched to Taşlıca Village, located across the border from Syria.

Municipal authorities continued to warn locals against possible attacks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that more than 700 mortars have been launched into the country by the YPG, killing 18 civilians and wounding nearly 200 others, since Operation Peace Spring began.

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 YPG, on Oct. 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.