Turkish troops have reportedly bombarded a convoy of vehicles taking residents of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa to a border town, inflicting casualties among them.
The Kurdish Hawar news agency said the attack on the road leading to the border town of Tal Abyad killed three people and left several others injured.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkish air strike occurred when a convoy carrying a tribal leader reached the entrance of Tal Abyad. It said several people were injured but no-one was killed.
Turkish troops have been bombarding the town of Tal Abyad since the start of their ground offensive against Kurdish fighters on Wednesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said 109 “terrorists” have been killed since the launch of the offensive.
He insists the action is needed to prevent the creation of a “terror state” along Turkey’s border with Syria.
Meanwhile, two mortars fired from Syria injured two people when they landed in a Turkish town along the border.
Eyewitnesses said at least two government buildings were hit by the mortars in Akcakale.
Syrian Kurdish fighters have struck at least five different Turkish borders towns with dozens of mortars since Wednesday.
Earlier on Thursday, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu said Turkey-allied Syrian opposition fighters had “cleared of terror” two villages across the border in Syria – meaning there are no more Syrian Kurdish fighters in those areas.
Major Youssef Hammoud, a spokesman for Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, had earlier tweeted they were in Yabisa, near the town of Tal Abyad, describing it as “the first village to win freedom”.
They later entered and “cleared” Tel Fander.
Mr Erdogan, meanwhile, has warned the EU not to call the operation an “invasion”, and renewed his threat to let Syrian refugees flood Europe.
He hit out after Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, whose country currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, condemned the offensive and urged the cessation of hostilities.
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