Turkey said Monday that it was "only a matter of time" before Syrian Kurdish fighters -- seen by the West as essential in the fight against Islamic State jihadists -- will be wiped out.

Turkey said on Sunday its armed forces "neutralised" 32 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in military operations in northern Syria. The defence ministry also said its operations in northern Iraq "neutralized" four PKK members,

More than 100 combatants were killed over the last two days in northern Syria in fighting between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces, a war monitor said on Sunday.