Four Turkish soldiers killed in northeast Syria bomb attack

Turkish and Russian military vehicles return following a joint patrol in northeast Syria

Four Turkish soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack in northeast Syria on Wednesday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said in a statement overnight.

It said the attack occurred during a roadside security check in the region east of the Euphrates river in Syria, where Turkey carried out a military operation with allied Syrian rebels in October.

The Turkish incursion targeted the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheaded the U.S.-led war against Islamic State and which Ankara regards as a terrorist group tied to militants fighting an insurgency in southeast Turkey.

No further details on the attack were immediately available.