Turkey Cracks Down on ISIS Militants Near Border With Syria

Turkey’s armed forces have begun attacking ISIS targets as well as U.S.-supported Kurdish forces across the border in Syria, shortly after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday pledged to rid the region of ISIS militants.

On Tuesday, Turkey’s military fired 40 shells at ISIS targets in northern Syria after mortar shells hit the Turkish border town of Karkamis, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

On Monday, Turkish artillery fire hit several areas north of the Syrian city of Manbij as well as the border town of Jarablus, Reuters cited local media as reporting. Syrian activists had earlier reported hundreds of Turkish-backed fighters massing in the town of Karkamis.

The strikes come a day after Cavusoglu said the border should be “completely cleansed” of ISIS extremists, following a suicide bombing at a wedding in the town of Gaziantep on Saturday, which killed at least 54 people. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said initial evidence from the attack, which counted at least 22 children among its victims and injured more than 60 people, pointed to the terrorist group, but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said authorities were still trying to determine the bomber’s affiliations.

[Reuters]