The raids came after 32 people were killed in a suicide bombing Monday in a Turkish town on the Syrian border, blamed on IS.
Advertisement
Turkey has been the entry point into Syria for hundreds of foreigners travelling to fight with Islamic State but has so far not taken part in the US-led campaign of air strikes.
Two police officers were also found shot dead nearby on Wednesday.
“This was not a point operation, this is a process”, Davutoğlu said.
But US warplanes will be able to use the Batman, Diyarbakir and Malatya air bases in eastern Turkey in the event of an emergency, it said. “The slightest movement threatening Turkey will be retaliated against in the strongest way possible”.
A Turkish official, who asked not to be named, said Ankara had received information in recent weeks that IS had been storing weapons in the area and the air strikes were “pre-emptive”.
Police also launched raids against IS and Kurdish militants across the country, arresting 251 people, the Prime Minister’s office said.
The statement did not specify Islamic State targets that were struck in Syria in a second night of bombings, but described the airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq as being “effective”. The agency did not cite a source for the report and there has been no official confirmation.
– Turkish F-16 jets hit IS targets just inside Syria for the first time, striking three targets with guided bombs.
The officials pointed out that the last time the Obama spoke with Erdogan was about Kobani, Syria, in October, when Obama decided to do airdrops of ammunition and small arms to resupply Kobani and negotiated with Erdogan for the Peshmerga to cross from Turkey into Syria.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: ‘Turkish aircraft carried out three strikes on IS positions in northwestern Aleppo province, killing nine and wounding 12.’.
The Turkish officials decline to give further information on the agreement yet, but the longstanding U.S. demand to use Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey for coalition operations will be responded.
A Turkish soldier stands next to an armored personnel carrier securing a road near the border with Syria, as seen from the outskirts of the village of Sev.
Turkish state TV said the airstrikes were carried out without violating Syrian air space.
The Dogan news agency said that 140 addresses were raided in 26 districts in Istanbul, in an operation involving about 5 000 police.
Anthony Skinner of the British analysis firm Verisk Maplcroft told Bloomberg News the change in Turkish policy comes after “the combination of pressure from the U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies, along with the realization that Daesh (IS) poses a real security threat to Turkey”.
Advertisement
One woman – suspected to be a member of the DHKP-C – was killed during a shootout with police in Istanbul, as indicated by the official Anadolu Agency.
