Turkey may have deliberately targeted US forces with artillery in northern Syria in order to push them out, coalition sources have told the Daily Telegraph.
US officials confirmed an explosion occurred near where a small contingent of its special forces were based on a hill near the town of Kobane.
They said the cause of the explosion had not been confirmed but local reports suggested it was either an artillery or air strike. No US personnel were injured.
It was the first time a coalition base had come under fire since Turkey’s offensive began. US warplanes flew over the base immediately after the incident.
Turkey’s defence ministry denied targeting the US position, saying its forces were responding to Kurdish fire that originated nearby.
A spokesman said: “There was no firing on the US observation post. The firing was ceased as a result of the issue being relayed to us by the US.”
But a coalition source said there was nothing else around in the area that the Turks could have been targeting, apart form the US forces.
“It’s likely they are trying to push us out. Kobane is the heart and soul of the Kurds,” a source said. “If Turkey can get us to leave it’s all over.”
A US official in Washington said an explosion had occurrednear the US military outpost, but no personnel were hurt.
Source : Yahoo.com
