Kurdish-led militiamen ride atop military vehicles as they celebrate victory over Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria, Oct. 17, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Erik De Castro / File.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry said one soldier was killed and five were injured during clashes with Kurdish militants in northern Syria on Wednesday.

The casualties, which the ministry said occurred during clashes with the YPG/PKK, took place in the area where Turkey carried out its Olive Branch Operation last year, when the Turkish army wrested the Afrin region from the hands of Syrian Kurdish forces.

Turkey says the US-backed YPG Kurdish militia is indistinguishable from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.