Turkish planes hit 'IS' targets in Syria
July 24, 2015
The airstrikes, carried out by Turkish F-16 fighter jets, struck three "Islamic State" ("IS") targets close to Turkey's border with Syria early on Friday, a statement from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said.
An earlier report from state-run TRT television said that the attacks were launched by four planes that took off from Diyarbakir air base in southeastern Turkey.
TRT said the airstrikes hit "IS" targets in the Syrian village of Havar, which is across the border from the Turkish town of Kilis. The planes did not violate Syrian airspace, according to TRT.
The bombing raid was the first of its kind against the "IS" militants in Syria.
Washington has long been urging Ankara to participate more actively in efforts to combat "IS," which controls large areas of both Syria and Iraq. US-led coalitions are carrying out airstrikes in both countries in a bid to wipe out the group.
Retaliatory attacks
According to the newspaper "Hurriyet," the attacks were in retaliation for the death of a Turkish soldier who was killed on Thursday when five "IS" militants shot at a Turkish military outpost from Syrian territory. One militant was also killed in the ensuing firefight.
Friday's operation also comes a day after an announcement that Turkey had agreed to allow the United States to use the key air base of Incirlik to launch aerial attacks against the jihadist extremists.
Police crackdown
Earlier in the week, a suicide bomb attack that has been blamed on "IS" militants killed more than 30 people in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border. Turkish officials say they fear that attack was an act of retaliation for Turkey's recent crackdown on 'IS" militants within its own borders, which has seen more than 500 suspected collaborators detained.
As part of the ongoing operation to combat militants within Turkey itself, police backed up by helicopters on Friday launched raids on locations harboring suspected "IS" and Kurdish extremists in Istanbul, according to the official Anatolia news agency.
According to a statement from the prime minister's office, 251 have so far been detained in the raids, which occurred simultaneously.
The statement said the government was resolved to fight all "terrorist" groups "without distinction."
tj/kms (dpa, AP, Reuters)