Turkey’s artillery shelled Islamic State (IS) group targets across the border in Syria for the second consecutive day yesterday, a senior Turkish official said, amid reports that Ankara-backed Syrian rebels were preparing an offensive against an IS-held border town in northern Syria.
The official said the Turkish shelling came after mortar rounds, believed to have been fired by the militants from the Syrian town of Jarablus, landed in Turkish territory.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, did not provide further details.
Photo: AP
Turkey has increased security measures at its border opposite the Islamic State-held Jarablus, deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers in recent days.
Syrian activists have said that hundreds of Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters are gathered in the Turkish border area of Karkamis in preparation for an attack on Jarablus.
Ankara is concerned about the growing power of US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
In Syria, a Kurdish-led group known as the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) earlier this month liberated the nearby town of Manbij from the Islamic State group, triggering concerns in Ankara that they would seize the entire border strip with Turkey.
Jarablus is a vital supply line and the last border point that directly connects the Islamic State group with Turkey and the outside world, and separates Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
A rebel commander affiliated with the SDF was killed shortly after broadcasting a statement announcing the formation of the so-called Jarablus Military Council and vowing to protect civilians in Jarablus from Turkish “aggression.”
Abdel-Sattar al-Jader was shot by unknown gunmen late on Monday, an hour after reading the statement posted online in which he also accused Turkey of mobilizing fighters and “terrorists” through the border toward Jarablus.
The Hurriyet newspaper said the mortar rounds yesterday hit the town of Karkamis, in Turkey’s Gaziantep Province. One of them exploded in the garden of a house, but no one was hurt.
Anadolu news agency said Turkish artillery fired 40 rounds against IS targets in retaliation, after three rockets fired from Syria landed into an empty field in the town of Kilis.
The report says the Turkish Armed Forces “covered the area with fire,” without providing any details.
In related news, Ankara went back on claims that a child bomber linked to IS militants carried out a deadly suicide bombing close to Syria, saying it had no clue who was behind the attack.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Ankara could not confirm who was the perpetrator of the attack on a Kurdish wedding in the city of Gaziantep that left 54 dead, apparently contradicting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had said it was a child bomber acting on IS orders.
“We do not have a clue about who the perpetrators behind the attack were. Early information on who did the attack, in what organisation’s name, is unfortunately not right,” Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.
Additional reporting by AFP
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