The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group is helping Turkey find two of its soldiers that went missing in Syria, a British general said Wednesday.

"Turkey is an important ally to us as a NATO partner and as a member of the coalition, and therefore we are supporting Turkey in trying to recover their two individuals," said British Army Major General Rupert Jones, a deputy commander for the US-led coalition against the IS group in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters in a video call, Jones declined to provide further details, citing the sensitive nature of the search.

The two Turkish troops went missing Tuesday as the Turkish military pressed an operation to expel Islamic State group jihadists from the border area.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency claimed the jihadist group had taken the pair hostage.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they disappeared in the Aldana area west of Al Bab in Aleppo province.

Although Turkey is part of the anti-IS coalition, fellow coalition members are not assisting it in the Al Bab region.

The Turkish army embarked on an ambitious operation inside Syria in August to root out IS group jihadists from the border area and halt the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia forces.