ISTANBUL - Militants carried out an attack with a rocket launcher on a Turkish military post near the Syrian border on Sunday, killing one soldier and wounding another, Turkey's defence ministry said.

It did not identify the militants, but Turkish forces are in conflict in that region with the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara considers a terrorist group and which is a key part of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The ministry said that after the attack on the post at Suruc, in Sanliurfa province, Turkish forces retaliated.

"Targets were identified in the area and immediately fired upon, with 12 terrorists neutralised according to initial information," the statement said. The term neutralised usually means killed.

It added that operations were continuing in the area.

  - Reuters