Turkish, US military officials agree on plan for Manbij

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's military says Turkish and U.S. officials, meeting in Germany, have reached an agreement on a plan for the strategic Syrian town of Manbij that was a source of tension between the NATO allies.

A military statement on Thursday said Turkish and U.S. military officials met at the U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart on June 12 and 13 and reached agreement on a "Manbij Implementation Plan." It said the plan would be discussed by senior officials from the two countries, but provided no details.

Turkey and the U.S. have offered differing descriptions of their roadmap for Manbij, but a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia group is expected to retreat to the east of the Euphrates River, meeting a long-standing Turkish demand.

Turkey considers the militia a terror group linked to Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.