18 Islamic State militants killed in Syria, Turkish military says

Its warplanes annihilated four IS (Daesh) targets and Russian planes hit extremists in Dayr Kak, the army said.

rebels in Syria's al-Bab — Turkish military said they killed 18 Isis militants and wounded another 37 - File photo Reuters/Khalil Ashawi

Turkey's military on Tuesday, (3 January) said that at least 18 Islamic State (Isis) militants have been killed and around 37 injured in battle and artillery fire on Monday.

The army said that its warplanes annihilated four IS (Daesh) targets and Russian planes hit extremists in Dayr Kak, which is located 8km southwest of Isis stronghold, al-Bab.

Ankara, which provides open military support to anti-regime Syrian rebels, launched Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016 to oust Isis militants. Turkey's involvement in the Syrian war has reportedly backfired with IS mounting attacks in Turkey over the last year. The latest attack by the jihadi group on New Year's eve in an Istanbul night club claimed the lives of 39 people.

In a statement President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has earlier said "As a nation, we will fight to the end against not just the armed attacks of terror groups and the forces behind them, but also against their economic, political and social attacks,"

He added "They are trying to create chaos, demoralize our people, and destabilize our country with abominable attacks which target civilians ... We will retain our cool-headedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games."