ANKARA – Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two Turkish military personnelwere killed when a helicopter was downed during Ankara’s military offensiveagainst a Kurdish militia in northern Syria.

“At this stage, we can say that one out of two helicopters was downed. Wehave two martyrs,” Yildirim said in televised remarks, but added that therewas: “no evidence (yet) in our hands to prove that it was a result ofoutside intervention.”

On January 20, Turkey launched a military operation against the KurdishPeople’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 KurdistanWorkers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency insideTurkey and is blacklisted by Washington and the European Union.

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

However, in a posting on Twitter, Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the US-backedSyrian Democratic Forces dominated by the YPG, said a helicopter had beenhit in the Rajo area of northwest Afrin, near the Turkish border.

Earlier, Erdogan said a helicopter had been shot down without saying whowas responsible, admitting that such incidents were expected in times ofconflict.

“Of course, these kinds of things will happen. We are in a war. We willhave losses, but we will cause the other side to have losses as well,” hesaid in a televised speech, vowing to make the perpetrators pay “a muchheavier price.”

On Friday, the military said one soldier was killed during clashes with theYPG the Afrin region.

Last Saturday, seven Turkish troops died in the worst single-day loss ofthe operation so far, with five killed in a tank attack. APP/AFP