Twenty-one pro-Turkey militants killed in Syrian minefield

Twenty-one pro-Turkey Syrian fighters were killed on Tuesday in an explosion of landmines in northern Syria laid by Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

The Turkish military and allied Syrian factions have taken control of a 120-km long and 32-km deep region between the border towns of Ras al Ayn and Tel Abyad after Ankara made separate agreements with the United States and Russia for the removal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the region.

Since then, pro-Turkey Syrian fighters have been deployed to the north of the town of Ayn Issa, and sporadic skirmishes have broken out between them and the SDF.

Overnight, some 30 Turkey-backed combatants tried to capture the nearby SDF-controlled village of Muallaq, SOHR said, citing local sources. 

But they became ensnared in the SDF minefield and clashes continued in the Ayn Issa area during the night, it said.