18 ISIL militants ‘neutralized’ in Syria: Turkish military

ANKARA

AA photo

At least 18 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants were “neutralized” in northern Syria as part of the ongoing Euphrates Shield operation, the Turkish military announced on Jan. 16.

Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply the militant in question was either killed or captured. 

A total of 180 ISIL targets including shelters, defense positions, command control centers, weapons and vehicles were hit with the help of howitzers, tanks and multiple rocket launchers on the 146th day of the operation, the military said in a statement.      

Separately, Turkish warplanes also destroyed eight other ISIL targets in air raids near the al-Bab region. Among the destroyed targets were five buildings, one command center and two bomb-laden vehicles.

Meanwhile, six hand-made explosives were also destroyed in regions cleared of the jihadist group while a total of 2,933 hand-made explosives and mines were destroyed since the launch of the operation.

On Aug. 24, 2016, the Turkish Armed Forces launched the Euphrates Shield operation with Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters to clear the country’s southern border of both ISIL and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces, which Ankara considers as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).