ISTANBUL — A Turkish soldier was killed and five were wounded on Wednesday in a clash with Syrian Kurdish militia forces, the defense ministry said.

"Our hero comrade fell martyr and five were wounded during the clashes with the terrorists," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry say where the clashes with the People's Protection Units (YPG) occurred.

The Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was a rocket attack on a Turkish position in northern Aleppo.

Turkey says the YPG is a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is branded as a terrorist group by Ankara.

While Turkey's Western allies have also designated the PKK a terrorist organization, they support the YPG as a crucial force in the fight against Daesh (so-called IS) group. — AFP