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Turkish F-16 jets carry out strikes against Isis on Syrian side of border Turkey carries out first ever strikes against Islamic State in Syria
(about 3 hours later)
Related: Turkey to let anti-Isis coalition use air base after soldier's deathRelated: Turkey to let anti-Isis coalition use air base after soldier's death
Turkish warplanes struck Islamic State targets across the border in Syria on Friday, a day after the militants fired on a Turkish military outpost and killed a soldier. Turkish fighter jets have struck Islamic State targets in Syria and the government has rounded up hundreds of suspected militants in a coordinated crackdown as the country deployed military force for the first time against the terror group.
A government official confirmed three F-16 jets took off from Diyarbakir airbase in south-east Turkey early on Friday and used smart bombs to hit three Isis targets across the Turkish border province of Kilis. The bombing is a strong tactical shift for Turkey, which has long been reluctant to follow the US-led coalition into taking military action against Isis.
The bombing is a strong tactical shift for Turkey which had long been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against Isis. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said Turkish F-16 warplanes based in Diyarbakir attacked three Isis targets with guided bombs at dawn on Friday, including what it described as headquarters of the militant group and an assembly point.
The raids came as the Turkish prime minister’s office said 251 people had been detained in police raids targeting Isis and the Kurdish PKK group in 13 provinces. A statement said it was determined to fight all “terrorist” groups “without distinction”. Turkey is also to allow the US-led coalition to use its Incirlik airbase to conduct strikes against Isis in a reversal that followed a cross-border attack by the militants that killed a Turkish soldier and a suicide bombing this week that killed 32 people in the southern province of Suruç, just a few miles from the border.
The official said the targets of the air strikes were two command centres and a gathering point of Isis supporters. The jets did not enter Syrian airspace, the official said. Later in the day, Davutoglu’s office announced that Turkish police have detained at least 297 people in orchestrated raids across the country, targeting suspected cells of Isis and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In Istanbul, one female member of the radical leftist DHKP-C was reportedly killed during the operation.
Turkish media said the targets were the Syrian village of Havar, near the border, but officials would not confirm the location. On the day of the Suruç bombing one Turkish soldier was killed during a PKK attack in Adiyaman, while two police officers were found dead in an apartment in Ceylanpinar on Tuesday. The PKK claimed responsibility for the killings of the policemen, saying the officers were shot “in retaliation for the suicide bomb in Suruç”. In Istanbul and Adana, two men suspected to be Isis members were killed by attackers with ties to the PKK, according to Turkish media reports.
Hurriyet newspaper said the aerial operation was in retaliation for the Isis attack a day earlier and was named Operation Yalcin in honour of the non-commissioned officer who was killed in that attack. The statement from Davutoglu’s office said the raids were conducted “without distinction” against all terrorist groups in 13 provinces.
Turkey earlier agreed to let the US-led coalition against Isis use the country’s Incirlik air base after Isis fired on its border post. “The State of the Turkish Republic is adamant on fighting all terrorism without distinction as it has always done, be it the terrorist organisation of Daesh [Isis], the terrorist organisation of the PKK or any other international terrorist organisation,” the statement read.
The country had previously refused to let the US-led coalition use the military facility but the attack on Turkish personnel appeared to prompt a change of heart. In Istanbul several Isis members were detained, many of whom are reported to be foreigners. According to the Turkish daily Milliyet, ammunition, weapons and Molotov cocktails were seized in several cities during the operation. The airstrikes and raids come as a wave of deadly violence, including the attack in Suruç, the PKK killings and the cross-border attack by Isis, threatens to draw Turkey further into the Syrian quagmire.
Local media said Turkey scrambled its own F-16 fighter jets from their base in Diyarbakir to the Syrian border after the Kilis attack which appeared to signal the first armed confrontation between the country’s forces and Isis. Tension has dangerously risen in the predominantly Kurdish south-east, where many have long been accusing the AKP government, led by president Reçep Tayyip Erdogan, of directly supporting Isis against the Kurdish struggle in Syria, a charge Ankara vehemently denies.
Turkish officials have raised concerns that the Isis bombing at Kilis was part of a campaign of retaliation for Turkey’s recent crackdown on IS operations in the country. In the last six months, Turkish officials say, more than 500 people suspected of working with IS have been detained. Yesterday a traffic policeman was shot on duty by unknown assailants in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. This morning’s bombings followed a decision by Turkey to open the key Inçirlik air base near the border with Syria for its western allies launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report American officials told the New York Times they had reached a “game changer” agreement with Turkey that would allow the US-led coalition against Isis to use manned and unmanned aircraft to strike at the militants from air bases in Incirlik and Diyarbakir. Turkey, a Nato member, had long resisted calls by Barack Obama’s administration to allow the coalition to use bases in the country as staging grounds for coalition air raids.
Turkish media reported on Friday that the deal with the US forsees a 56-mile no-fly-zone along the Syrian border to back up a “safe zone” on the ground aimed at preventing infiltration by Isis and other jihadists and to discourage a new flow of refugees to Turkey.
Turkey had previously insisted on a no-fly-zone in exchange for US use of its airbases, but US officials said on Thursday it was not part of the deal.