57 ISIL militants ‘neutralized’ in northern Syria, says Turkish army

ANKARA

A total of 57 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants were neutralized and 186 ISIL targets were hit over the weekend as part of the ongoing Euphrates Shield operation, the Turkish military has stated.

Some 11 ISIL militants were “neutralized” and two others were injured in northern Syria over the last 24 hours as part of Euphrates Shield operation, the Turkish military said early on Jan. 22.    
  
Turkish fighter jets also hit 165 ISIL targets, including shelters, defense points, command and control facilities and vehicles used by the terror group, said a Turkish General Staff statement.  
   
Coalition forces also hit four targets on the 152nd day of the operation. 

The Operation Euphrates Shield, which began on Aug. 24, 2016, aims to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terrorist threat along the Turkish border through Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets. 

Turkish authorities use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply the terrorists in question were killed, captured or surrounded. 

On Jan. 21, the military had said in a separate statement that 46 ISIL militants were neutralized and 16 others injured in northern Syria. 

Turkish fighter jets also hit 21 IISL targets, including 17 buildings used as terror-shelters and two armed vehicles, in al-Bab, Bzagah and Qabasin regions, the military stated on Jan. 21. 

The Turkish army is supporting FSA fighters in their struggle to liberate al-Bab from ISIL.  
      
Since the start of the operation, a total of 227 residential areas and 1,875 square kilometers (724 square miles) of land had been secured along northern Syria’s Azaz to Jarablus corridor that runs parallel to the Turkish frontier, the statement read.

A total of 3,088 handmade explosives and 43 mines have also been neutralized under controlled conditions, the Turkish military added in its Jan. 22 statement.