Turkish jets strike IS targets in Syria

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the strikes were “100 percent” successful and eliminated their targets.

The New York Times said the agreement, which would allow manned and unmanned U.S. warplanes to use Incirlik for raids against ISIS, was described by a senior administration official as a “game changer”.

That would include air fields such as the one in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, from where it dispatched the F-16 fighters for the attack in Syria.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish warplanes struck Islamic state group targets across the border in Syria, Turkey’s government confirmed Friday. Erdogan added that “terrorist groups” must lay down their weapons or face the consequences, probably alluding both to the jihadists and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

Tactics like employing suicide bombs against civilians make IS a very unsafe group.

Turkey retaliated immediately by firing shots on ISIS posts in Syria. However, the PKK accuses the government of publicly abandoning the peace process, while adopting a nationalist discourse and cracking down on Kurdish activists.

The Turkish government received a lot of flak from home and overseas for not stepping up its involvement in the fight against the IS militants.

The New York Times reports a US official saying that the use of the Incirlik airbase was a “game changer”, as it “broadens the US military’s ability to strike IS targets”.

The private Dogan news agency said as many as 35 IS militants were killed in the airstrike that targeted the gathering point. He said the air strikes killed nine IS fighters, wounded 12 others and destroyed at least one IS vehicle and a heavy machine gun.

The United States has been pressuring a hesitant Turkey to join its coalition against Islamic State since it first began bombing the group last summer.

On Friday, Davutoğlu acknowledged that negotiations with the US had reached a specific point, and that Turkey’s concerns were being addressed. “It is not limited to one day or to one region…”

“Turkey will show the strongest reaction to the slightest movement that threatens it”, he said.

“We continue to have discussions with Turkey, evaluate options for the… best way to counter ISIL along the border”, Toner said.

Turkish police have also launched raids against Kurdish and ISIS militants, arresting 297 people across the country on Friday.

Turkey on Friday detained 251 people in coordinated nationwide dawn raids against suspected Islamic State (IS) militants and Kurdish militants following a wave of deadly violence in the country, the prime minister s office said.

The IS-linked suicide bombing in the border town of Suruc on July 20 that killed 32 people provides a public justification for this policy shift. The operation was carried out in 26 districts of the country and close to 5,000 officers were involved in the raid.

On Wednesday, the PKK claimed responsibility for the killing of two Turkish policemen near the Kurdish majority city of Sanliurfa, near the Syrian border.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t come to an agreement with the US on that”, he said. U.S. drones are already launched from the base.