ANKARA (Reuters) – An aid worker from Turkey’s Red Crescent was killed and another was wounded after masked assailants attacked the group’s vehicle near the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, the aid agency said in a statement on Monday.
It said the attack took place between al-Bab and the Turkish border town of Cobanbey, despite the vehicle having a Kizilay, or Red Crescent, logo on its roof.
“With the help of our country, I believe the attackers will be captured soon,” Kizilay Chairman Kerem Kinik said.
Turkey has seized swathes of northern Syria in four cross-border offensives since 2016 to drive back Islamic State and the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which Ankara deems a terrorist group. In 2017, Syrian rebels backed by Turkey seized al-Bab as part of Ankara’s “Operation Euphrates Shield”.
“Every measure from the ground and air is being taken to capture the terrorists, who stooped to attacking an aid group that is untouchable under international law,” Turkey’s Defence Ministry said.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Dominic Evans)
