ANKARA - A total of 22 Turkish soldiers have been killed on Thursday in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, governor of Turkey's southern Hatay province said.

"TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) elements were attacked by regime forces in Idlib," Rahmi Dogan told reporters, noting that there were seriously wounded soldiers as well.

"We have seriously injured people, the injured have been taken from our Cilvegozu border gate to Turkey," he said.

Three soldiers were killed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier on Thursday.

Turkey's losses come over an escalating confrontation between Russian-backed Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed rebels, who have been in heavy clashes for the key town of Saraqeb in the past few days.

Turkish soldiers were reportedly in the region to support the Syrian rebels.

Turkish and Russian delegations were on the second day of talks in Turkey's capital Ankara on Thursday aiming to reach a truce in the last rebel stronghold Idlib.

Erdogan convened an urgent security meeting late Thursday over the attack on Turkish troops.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a phone conversation with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg after the meeting.