ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish jets have struck 18 Syrian Kurdish militia targets north of the Syrian city of the embattled city of Aleppo, killing as many as 200.

Anadolu Agency says Thursday the raids targeted the Maarraat Umm Hawsh region in northern Syria. The agency said between 160 and 200 militia fighters were killed in the raid.

It says the air strikes took place late Wednesday night.

The United States considers the militia group, known as the People's Protection Units or YPG, to be the most effect force in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. Turkey says the group is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdish militants who have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past year.