U.S. forces in Syria on Thursday shot down a Turkish drone flying overhead, according to media reports, after the unmanned aircraft apparently flew too close to American troops on the ground.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press that the drone was flying in an “unsafe” and “unsynchronized” manner before it was shot down near Hasakah, Syria. U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in Syria and across the Middle East, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The circumstances around the reported shoot-down are unclear, but it seems likely that the Turkish drone may have been attempting to target Kurdish militants in the area. Turkey’s Interior Ministry building was hit by a suicide bomb attack earlier this week and Turkish officials said afterwards that the two assailants arrived from Syria, where they had been trained.

Turkish warplanes on Wednesday launched a round of airstrikes against Kurdish militant targets in Iraq in retaliation for the attack in Ankara earlier this week, the Associated Press reported.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, had claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack and the Turkish jets targeted 22 suspected PKK positions in northern Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said.

The Turkish attacks and the drone shootdown are the latest source of strain in the U.S.-Turkey relationship over Kurdish groups in the region.

Turkey has long been critical of the PKK, a rebel group with links to the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, and has cast some of its elements as terrorists. The SDF has been the chief U.S. partner in the years-long fight against the terror group the Islamic State in Syria.

There are about 900 American troops in Syria right now with the stated mission of battling the Islamic State.

• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.