Ankara 7 Sep (ANA) - Turkish army says three of its soldiers were killed in an attack by ISIL near the town of al-Rai in northern Syria. Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and four wounded during clashes with ISIL fighters in northern Syria, according to Turkey's armed forces. The deaths are the first to be blamed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, also known as ISIS, since the launch of Turkey's cross-border operation two weeks ago. In a statement on Tuesday, the Turkish military said ISIL "elements" had targeted two of its tanks "in a rocket attack" near the Syrian town of al-Rai. The army initially said that two of its troops had been killed, but later said another soldier had succumbed to his wounds. Two Ankara-backed Syrian fighters were killed and two wounded in clashes with ISIL in the same region, it said. Turkey first sent tanks across the border on August 24 as part of a two-pronged offensive against ISIL and Kurdish-led forces. Four days later, the Turkish army suffered its first fatality in northern Syria in a similar rocket attack blamed on Kurdish militia.(ANA)

FA/ANA/7 September 2016-------