BEIRUT — Turkey’s prime minister said Saturday Turkish troops have captured a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in northwestern Syria, tightening its grip on Kurdish militia in the sixth week of its offensive in the area.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkish soldiers cleared Rajo in Afrin district of “terrorists” and have pushed them back from the border with Turkey.

Yildirim, speaking at a rally in the central province of Konya, said the Kurdish Afrin district has been “surrounded” by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters.

“Afrin has been surrounded. We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said.

Yildirim said Turkey would not cease its campaign against “terror.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria conflict, said fierce clashes were still ongoing in Rajo, in Afrin’s northwest.

If confirmed, Rajo would be the largest center in Afrin to be captured since the Turkish offensive began on Jan.20. Turkish borders run along Afrin’s western and northern borders. To the east lies a Syrian territory controlled by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters. In the south, Syrian government forces control territory.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have been attacking Afrin from the north, west and east, and have formed a crescent around the district.

Turkey said it wants to oust the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, from Afrin. It considers the group a terrorist organization, an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Turkey said 41 of its soldiers have been killed since the operation began.


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