Several Pentagon officials confirmed a US Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down a Turkish drone operation above Syria Thursday (October 5).
Multiple reports marked the incident as a rare moment that NATO allies have clashed against each other.
A US official familiar with the aerial kill told the Wall Street Journal on the condition of anonymity that the drone posed a threat to US troops in the northeastern part of the country. Another official also told the Journal that the US knew the drone was Turkish and armed with air-to-ground munitions.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said the drone was targeted by an "International Coalition," but fell short of naming which country or countries were responsible.
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Turkey's Bombing Runs vs. Kurds
On the other hand, Reuters reported that Turkish military officials acknowledged an unmanned aircraft was shot down but denied ownership of the drone.
The incident was reported as the country has increased its bombing sorties against what it said were Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria, blaming them for the suicide bombing in Ankara last weekend.
Observers said several people have been killed this week by the Turkish attacks.
The US has around 900 troops deployed in Syria as part of an international coalition working with local forces to carry out counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State. They recently conducted two helicopter raids last week resulting in the capture of an ISIS official, the US Central Command reported.
In a separate incident Thursday, over 100 people were killed after a drone targeted a graduation parade of a Syrian military academy in Homs. Ten of those killed were civilians, while the rest were either military personnel or cadets who just graduated before the strike.
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