Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a US-brokered truce in north-eastern Syria even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day on Saturday.

The deal announced late on Thursday is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

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The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mainly on the Kurdish side, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in the latest humanitarian crisis of Syria's eight-year civil war.

On Saturday, Turkey accused Kurdish forces of violating the truce.

"The Turkish armed forces fully abide by the agreement" reached on Thursday with the US, the defence ministry said in a statement.

"Despite this, terrorists... carried out a total of 14 attacks in the last 36 hours," it said, using its usual term for Kurdish fighters.

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Battleground border town

The ministry said 12 of the attacks came in the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain, one in Tal Abyad and another in the Tal Tamr area.

Heavy weapons fell silent in Ras al-Ain after sporadic clashes on Friday evening, an AFP correspondent reported.

Turkish troops and its Syrian rebel proxies seized part of the town on Thursday, hitting a hospital.

Turkey wants to push Kurdish fighters away from its southern border by establishing a 30km deep "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the frontier.

A Britain-based war monitor said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had yet to start pulling back on Saturday.

"The SDF have not withdrawn until now from any point," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

SDF commander Redur Khalil said deadly bombardments by Turkey's forces on Friday were a major breach of the truce and called on Washington to ensure Ankara honoured its side of the deal.

On Friday, Turkish air strikes and mortar fire by allied Syrian fighters killed 14 civilians in and around the village of Bab al-Kheir, the Observatory said.

"The Turkish side is not committing to the ceasefire and is not allowing the opening of a security corridor to evacuate the wounded and besieged civilians from Ras al-Ain," said Khalil.

"The US side bears responsibility for the non-compliance as it is the guarantor and mediator of the ceasefire."

US-backed battle

The Observatory said at least 32 wounded people in Ras al-Ain, mostly fighters, were in need of immediate treatment on Saturday but an evacuation convoy could not reach them.

Six SDF fighters had died of their wounds during the morning, the monitor added.

The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies - mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels used as a ground force - have so far seized around 120km of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Syria's Kurds had been a key partner in the US-backed battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, overrunning the last remnant of their self-proclaimed "caliphate" in March.

But earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw US troops from northern Syria, in a move that was seen as green-lighting a Turkish attack.

The move has come under widespread criticism, even from within Trump's own Republican party.

It has sparked concerns that thousands of IS suspects and their family members in Kurdish custody could break out and bring about a resurgence of the extremist group.