Turkey shells IS in Iraq, Syria after Istanbul attack

Foreign minister claims 200 jihadis killed in assaults on 500 positions

By AFP 14 January 2016, 4:16 pm

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Turkish Armed Forces T-155 Fırtına artillery (photo courtesy of Turkish Armed Forces)

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish ground forces heavily shelled Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Iraq and Syria following the suicide attack blamed on the extremist group that killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday.

“After the heinous attack in Istanbul, our armed forces hit in the last 48 hours some 500 positions of Daesh (IS) in Syria and Iraq with artillery and tank fire,” Davutoglu told Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.

He added that around 200 IS members had been killed in the assault. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the toll.

“Every attack that targets Turkey’s guests will be punished,” he added.

Turkey has often been criticized by its Western allies for not doing enough to combat IS jihadists who took swaths of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

But Ankara last year stepped up its involvement in the US-led coalition against IS, hosting American war planes at its Incirlik air base for deadly raids against the jihadists and conducting some airstrikes of its own.

There was no suggestion from Davutoglu that Turkey has carried out airstrikes against IS in the last 48 hours and it appeared that all the fire had been from the ground.