Turkey accused of shelling Kurdish-held village in Syria

Turkish tanks shelled a Kurdish-held village in northern Syria overnight, wounding at least four fighters, according to Kurdish forces and a monitoring group.

A Turkish foreign ministry official denied the accusation.

The alleged shelling comes after Turkey carried out air strikes in Syria against Islamic State and in northern Iraq against Kurdish forces it considers “terrorists”.

In a statement, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said Turkish tanks hit its positions and those of allied Arab rebels in the village of Zur Maghar in Aleppo province, Syria.

The “heavy tank fire” wounded four members of the allied rebel force and several villagers, the YPG said. It said there was a second, later round of shelling against Zur Maghar and another village in the same area.

“Instead of targeting Isis terrorist occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders’ positions,” it said. “We urge [the] Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines. We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.”

Turkey says it is not targeting Syrian Kurds. “The ongoing military operation seeks to neutralise imminent threats to Turkey’s national security and continues to target Isis in Syria and the PKK in Iraq,” the official said, adding that Syrian Kurds “along with others, remain outside the scope of the current military effort,” a foreign ministry official told AFP on Monday.

The alleged Turkish fire was also reported by activists and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “A number of shells fired by Turkish tanks fell on the village of Zur Maghar, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units,” the monitoring group said.

Zur Maghar lies on the border with Turkey, east of the town of Jarabulus, which is held by Isis.

The Observatory’s director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the incident appeared to be the most serious Turkish attack in Kurdish-controlled areas in the Syrian conflict. Activists said there had been cross-border fire before but that the overnight shelling was particularly serious because of the context.

Turkey has begun striking Isis in Syria in recent days and has been arresting the group’s sympathisers at home. But it has also targeted the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a Kurdish group with strong links to the YPG in Syria.

Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist organisation,, and in recent days has hit the group’s positions in northern Iraq with the heaviest air strikes since August 2011.

“This shelling comes after Turkey declared war on Daesh [Isis] and a war against the PKK,” Mustafa Ebdi, a Syrian Kurdish activist, said. “Now the YPG is facing attacks from Isis and Turkey.”

On Sunday night, Turkey requested an emergency Nato meeting, to take place on Tuesday, to discuss the situation.

Since a suicide bomb attack that killed 32 people in Turkey last Monday, a wave of violence has rolled over the country, including the killing of several police officers for which the PKK has claimed responsibility. Violent protests against the ruling AKP’s failed Syria policies and its stalling of the Kurdish peace process have erupted in several cities. A 21-year-old man was reportedly shot in an exchange of gunfire in clashes between pro-Kurdish protesters and the police in Cizre, a city next to the border with Syria.

In Istanbul, authorities banned a planned peace march scheduled to take place on Sunday, citing security concerns and traffic congestion. Police in Ankara used water cannon and teargas to disperse demonstrators protesting against the AKP’s Syria policies and Isis violence. Thirty-three people were reportedly detained.

The YPG has proved Syria’s most effective force against Isis, but its successes have been viewed with suspicion by Turkey because of its links to the PKK.