Turkey says barrel bombs have hit Syrian opposition fighters

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A helicopter believed to belong to Syrian government forces dropped barrel bombs in a deadly attack on Turkey-backed opposition forces in the border area, Turkish officials and reports said Wednesday.

The attack in the village of Tal Madiq, in northern Syria, killed at least two opposition fighters while five others were wounded, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The agency didn't say when the attack happened. If confirmed, the attack would be the first by Syrian government forces on the Turkish-backed fighters.

Turkish sent troops and tanks into northern Syria in August in an unprecedented incursion that Ankara said was part of efforts to help Syrian opposition clear the border area of Islamic State fighters.

Ankara is also seeking to contain the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group, putting it at odds with its key ally, the United States.

Turkey maintains that the Syrian Kurdish forces are linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdish insurgents and the Turkish government considers both to be terrorist groups.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on Wednesday that Turkey is determined to push ahead with the offensive in northern Syria - dubbed Operation Eurphrates Shield - and liberate the key town of al-Bab from IS militants. It would not be deterred by the bombing of Tal Madiq, he said.

"Such attacks will not stop us from combatting Daesh," Cavusoglu said, using an Arabic language acronym for the Islamic State group. "The Euphrates Shield operation will continue. The only goal of the Euphrates Shield operation is to clear Daesh from this area."

Cavusoglu also accused forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad of having no intention to target IS militants.

"Their only concern is (to attack) the moderate opposition," he claimed.