ISTANBUL/BEIRUT: A total of 14 Turkish soldiers were killed and 33 wounded Wednesday in Daesh attacks in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab, Turkey army said on Wednesday.
The toll, the heaviest single day loss for the Turkish army in its Syria operation that started in August, came in fighting with jihadists that included three suicide car bomb attacks, the army added in a statement quoted by Turkish media.
The report came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Daesh was fighting “for dear life” in Al-Bab, carrying out suicide bombings and attacks with improvised explosive devices.
Earlier today four soldiers were also reported killed in the battle for Al-Bab.
A total of 35 Turkish soldiers have died in northern Syria since August, when Turkey sent ground troops to support Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces in clearing a border area of Daesh militants and to curb Syrian Kurdish territorial expansion.

Still no UN observers?
Two days after a UN resolution was approved urging immediate deployment of monitors to former opposition-held eastern Aleppo in war-torn Syria, it’s not clear whether any UN observers are actually on the ground there.
Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq says some UN staff have been present at a Syrian government checkpoint outside eastern Aleppo but he couldn’t say for sure if any observers were on hand in the eastern part of the city where civilians were loading into buses.
Haq says: “I don’t know what our presence is in eastern Aleppo. I would need further information on that.”
Evacuations resumed Wednesday after a delay, according to Haq, and more than 25,000 people have been evacuated from besieged neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city between Dec. 15-20. About 300 wounded and sick have been evacuated to Turkey, he said.
Haq said an additional 20 UN staff have been deployed in the area to bolster the 100 already in the area to help with evacuations.
The Security Council approved the resolution calling for observers on Monday.