Turkish soldier killed in clash in northwest Syria: ministry

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish soldier was killed in northwest Syria on Thursday in a clash with Kurdish militia fighters in the Afrin region, Turkey's Defence Ministry said, adding that six militants were "neutralised" in the fighting.

Turkey's military and its Syrian rebel allies seized control of Afrin, a mainly Kurdish region, from the Kurdish YPG militia in March 2018 in one of a series of Turkish incursions into northern Syria.

Turkey regards the YPG as a terrorist group tied to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984.

The ministry said the YPG had infiltrated the area and Turkish forces had opened fire in the direction of the attack, "neutralising" six of the militants as they retreated. This term usually means killed but could also mean wounded.

Operations were continuing in the area, with Turkish forces supported by drones, the statement said.

The governor's office in Turkey's Hatay province, bordering Afrin, said the killed soldier was a sergeant and that the attack was staged overnight in the Gazaviye base area in Afrin.

(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans)