Turkey bombs ISIL in Syria following shift to counter extremists

The attacks come after Ankara agreed to let the US carry out strikes on the militants from its territory.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu, center, his ministers, military commanders and intelligence officials gather during a security meeting in Ankara on July 23, hours before Turkish warplanes struck ISIL targets across the border in Syria. Hakan Goktepe/APShow less

ANKARA // Turkish warplanes struck ISIL targets across the border in Syria on Friday, government officials said, a day after the militants fired at a Turkish military outpost, killing a soldier.

The bombing is a strong tactical shift for Turkey which had long been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against the extremist group.

A government official said three F-16 jets took off from Diyarbakir airbase in south-east Turkey early on Friday and used smart bombs to hit three ISIL targets. The official said the targets were two command centres and a gathering point of ISIL supporters.

Turkish media said the targets were the Syrian village of Havar, near the border, but officials would not confirm the location.

The private Dogan news agency said as many as 35 ISIL militants were killed in the airstrike that targeted the gathering point. The agency did not cite a source for the report and there was no official confirmation.

A government statement said the decision for the operation was taken at a security meeting on Thursday, held after five ISIL militants fired from Syrian territory at the outpost and prompting Turkish retaliation that killed at least one ISIL militant.

The official said the Turkish planes did not violate Syrian airspace.

The bombing followed a decision by Turkey this week to allow the US military to use the key Incirlik airbase near the Syrian border to launch air strikes against ISIL, senior US officials said.

Turkey has yet to publicly confirm the agreement, which US officials discussed on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to comment publicly. Citing operational security, the White House declined to confirm the agreement, but noted that president Barack Obama and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed to “deepen our cooperation” against ISIL in their phone call on Wednesday.

The agreement follows months of US appeals to Turkey and delicate negotiations over the use of Incirlik and other bases by the US-led coalition — a sensitive topic in Turkey.

US officials said access to the base in southern Turkey would allow the US to move more swiftly and nimbly to attack ISIL targets.

On Friday, Turkish police launched a major operation against terror groups including ISIL, carrying out simultaneous raids in Istanbul and 12 provinces and detaining more than 250 people, a government statement said. The state-run Anadolu Agency said as many as 5,000 police officers were involved in the operation which was also targeting the PKK Kurdish rebel group and the outlawed far-left group, DHKP-C.

The agency said 98 people were detained in Istanbul — 36 of them foreign nationals. It did not given details on their home countries.

One DHKP-C suspect, a woman, was killed in a gunfight with police in Istanbul, Anadolu reported.

Turkey’s moves came as the country finds itself drawn further into the conflict by a series of deadly attacks and signs of increased ISIL activity inside the country.

Earlier in the week, a suicide bombing blamed on ISIL militants killed 32 people in a town near the Syrian border.

Turkish officials have raised concerns that the bombing was part of a campaign of retaliation for Turkey’s recent crackdown on ISIL operations in the country. In the last six months, Turkish officials say, more than 500 people suspected of working with ISIL have been detained.

* Associated Press