A Turkish soldier was killed on Wednesday in Turkey near the Syrian border, by a shot of a sniper made from the territory controlled by the Syrian Kurds, Turkey's General Staff said in a statement.

The Turkish forces were said to have responded with fire, aiming at the area from which the shot was made.

"On March 22… our soldier was killed while on combat duty near the town of Reyhanlı in Hatay Province by a shot of a sniper from the Syrian territory controlled by the self-defense forces of the Syrian Kurds of the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK]," the statement said.

Turkey, which has a significant Kurdish minority, considers PKK a terrorist group.

The Hatay province is located on the Turkish border with Syria.