Turkey’s military “neutralized” 26 Kurdish rebels in northern Syria overnight, in retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base, announced the Ministry of Defense today, as well the conflict escalates a week after the Ankara bombing.

Turkey with the term “neutralized” usually means killed.

The rocket attack on the military base, which was launched by the Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG), last night caused the death of a Turkish police officer and the wounding of seven officers and soldiers in the Dabiq region of northwestern Syria, according to Ankara.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense pointed out that Ankara separately carried out airstrikes and neutralized 30 rebel targets in other areas of northwestern Syriaincluding an oil well, weapons and ammunition depots as well as shelters.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing in Ankarathe two perpetrators of which were killed, while caused the injury of two policemen. Turkey announced that the attackers came from Syria, but the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied this.

Turkey does not single out the Kurdish YPG militia — belonging to the SDF who are part of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition– from the PKK. However, the EU and the US, although they consider the PKK a terrorist organization, do not treat the YPG as such.

The SDF announced that eight people have been killed by Turkish attacks since the Ankara attack.

Characteristic of the tension, the Pentagon announced that The US shot down a Turkish drone flying over an area where US troops were located in Syria on Thursday. This is the first time that Washington shoots down a drone belonging to its NATO ally Turkey.

A Pentagon spokesman said that Turkish drones were seen conducting airstrikes in Hasakeh, in northeastern Syria, and one of them was found less than half a kilometer from American troops. Consequently it was considered a potential threat and was shot down by an F-16 fighter jet.

An official of the Turkish Ministry of Defense pointed out that the drone did not belong to the Turkish armed forces. However, a security source said Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) had carried out strikes in Syria against Kurdish rebel targets.