Turkish forces kill nearly 200 ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for Istanbul bombing

ANKARA : Turkish land forces have fired nearly 500 times on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, killing almost 200 militants in response to a suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 German tourists, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday.

Turkey will also carry out air strikes against the radical Sunni group if necessary and will maintain its “determined stance” until Islamic State fighters leave its border areas, Davutoglu told a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.

The bomber blew himself up on Tuesday among groups of tourists in the historic center of Istanbul. Davutoglu said on Wednesday he was a member of Islamic State who had entered Turkey from Syria as a refugee.

“After the incident on Tuesday … close to 500 artillery and tank shells were fired on Daesh positions in Syria and Iraq,” Davutoglu said, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. 

“Close to 200 Daesh members including so-called regional leaders were neutralized in the last 48 hours. After this, every threat directed at Turkey will be punished in kind,” he told the ambassadors’ conference.

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance and the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, has repeatedly said it wants to flush Islamic State from a zone in northern Syria just across its border.

Turkish war planes have not flown in Syrian air space since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in late November, triggering a diplomatic row with Moscow, which is also conducting air strikes in Syria.

Source : Business Insider