ANKARA: Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two Turkish military personnel were killed when a helicopter was downed during Ankara’s military offensive against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria, reports AFP. “At this stage, we can say that one out of two helicopters was downed. We have two martyrs,” Yildirim said in televised remarks, but added that there was: “no evidence (yet) in our hands to prove that it was a result of outside intervention.”

On January 20, Turkey launched a military operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in its western enclave of Afrin, backing Syrian rebels with air strikes and ground troops.

Ankara says the YPG is a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey and is blacklisted by Washington and the European Union.

State-run news agency Anadolu said the incident happened in the southern border province of Hatay, with private run Dogan news agency saying authorities were trying to reach the wreckage in the Kirikhan district.