Turkish forces evacuate troops from Syria

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey launched an overnight military operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate troops guarding an Ottoman tomb, authorities said today.

TRT television broadcaster said ground troops backed by warplanes crossed into Syrian territory to reach the tomb, just over the border near the town of Kobani.

Private NTV television said one soldier was killed in the operation. The Turkish military later issued a statement saying the soldier had been killed in an “accident” en route to the tomb, without elaborating.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, was moved into Turkey. The tomb, once about 22 miles from Turkey on the banks of the Euphrates River, was in Syria’s embattled Aleppo province.

Davutoglu said the tomb would be sent to a “new location in Syria.” He did not elaborate, though he was expected to give remarks later today.

Kobani was the focus of U.S. airstrikes as Kurdish forces battled militants of the Islamic State group, who hold about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in their self-declared caliphate. Turkey stayed out of the battle at the time, which saw Kurds ultimately push out the extremists.

About 40 Turkish soldiers once guarded the tomb in Syria, making them a target for the Islamic State group and other militants in Syria’s long-running civil war.