AL-BAB, SYRIA: Turkish and US-led coalition fighter jets have carried out bombing raids against ISIL positions near Syria’s al-Bab, a town held by ISIL and besieged by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels for almost two months, according to a Turkish military statement.

 A total of 47 ISIL (also known as ISIS) fighters were “neutralised” in clashes and air raids in the past 24 hours, the statement said, adding that buildings, defence posts, shelters and an ammunition depot were destroyed in raids.

 The Turkish army also hit 135 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in northern Syria, the General Staff said in a statement.Agencies </s> Turkey hit 59 Islamic State targets and killed 51 militants in northern Syria as part of its ongoing incursion, the Turkish military said on Saturday.

Turkish forces have surrounded the ISIS-controlled town of al-Bab for weeks as part of an operation that has been going on for more than five months.

Four of those killed were so-called emirs, or local commanders, the Turkish military said, adding that its jets destroyed 56 buildings and three command control centers in the al-Bab and Bzagah regions.

Coalition forces also conducted eight airstrikes in the al-Bab region, destroying two defense positions and two armed vehicles. </s> ISTANBUL: The Turkish military said on Friday its warplanes and jets from the U.S.-led coalition have carried out air strikes near Syria's al-Bab, a town held by Islamic State and besieged by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels for almost two months.

A total of 47 Islamic State militants were "neutralised" in clashes and air strikes in the past 24 hours, the military said in a statement, adding that buildings, defence posts, shelters and an ammunition depot were destroyed in raids. </s> Turkish and US-led coalition fighter jets have carried out bombing raids against ISIL positions near Syria's al-Bab, a town held by ISIL and besieged by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels for almost two months, according to a Turkish military statement.

A total of 47 ISIL (also known as ISIS) fighters were "neutralised" in clashes and air raids in the past 24 hours, the statement said, adding that buildings, defence posts, shelters and an ammunition depot were destroyed in raids.

The Turkish army also hit 135 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in northern Syria, the General Staff said in a statement.

Turkish jets destroyed 64 targets, including 45 buildings, three bomb-laden vehicles and five headquarters used by the armed groups in the region around al-Bab, according to the statement.

There was no immediate response from ISIL.

Turkey first sent tanks across the border on August 24 as part of the operation Euphrates Shield. Four days later, the Turkish army suffered its first fatality in northern Syria, in a rocket attack blamed on Kurdish militias.

The city is in a strategic area, close to the Turkish border in northern Syria en route to Raqqa and Idlib. Al-Bab is one of the few remaining strongholds of ISIL.

If it takes Al-Bab, the Turkish military says its next objective is to clear the whole area and retake the town of Manbij from the SDF, a largely Kurdish militia.

More than 215 residential areas, including Jarablus city in northern Syria, have been cleared of ISIL as part of the Euphrates Shield operation so far, according to the Turkish military. </s> Russian Defence Ministry official representative general Igor Konashenkov makes an official statement for the media in Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow, Russia, 20 October 2016. Igor Konashenkov reported provided to the media detailed information, taken from Russian radars concerning the flight and airstrike of a pair of Belgian F-16 fighters. According to this information two Belgian combat jets F-16 took off 18 October from Jordanian airbase and after two-hours patrol flight receiving additional fuel from US flying tanker dropped bombs of Kurdish village Khassajek near Aleppo. Six residents of the village were killed during the airstrike. (Photo: SERGEI CHIRIKOV, EPA)

Up to 200 militia members were killed in air strikes in Aleppo province in Syria where Kurdish-led forces have been advancing against Islamic State militants, Turkish media reported Thursday.

The Turkish General Staff said between 160 and 200 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its affiliate, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), died in the bombings, according to the semi-official Anadolu news agency.

However, Commander Mahmoud Barkhadan of the People’s Protection Unit — the main Syrian Kurdish militia — told the Associated Press that early reports suggested that no more than 10 fighters were killed and 20 wounded.

The Turkish military did not give a location but the group is trying to take the key city of Al-Bab, located about 23 miles northeast of Aleppo, as the Islamic State withdraws. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2evj9pk </s> Turkish troops and Syrian rebels have entered ISIL-held Al Bab, the group's last stronghold in northern Syria, at the same time as Syrian government forces are also approaching it, according to a monitor and Turkish-backed fighters.

Heavy clashes were under way with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group on Saturday in Al Bab, 40km south of the Turkish border, which has been besieged since Monday, when government forces advancing from the south cut off a road leading into the town, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

"Turkish forces and allied rebels in the Euphrates Shield campaign entered the western edge of the town and took control of a number of areas," said the SOHR.

The Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sham group announced on Saturday, on Twitter, that the rebel forces had taken Al Bab's silos and sports complex in its southwestern districts.

The coalition's operations room released a video on social media showing its fighters at the gates of the Hikma hospital.

The Turkish military said in a statement on Saturday that at least 43 ISIL fighters were "neutralised" [meaning either killed or captured] in the last 24 hours as part of the operation.

At least 245 ISIL targets, including the group's shelters, headquarters, defence positions and vehicles, were hit by Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters with Turkish Land Forces' support, the statement said.

It also said Turkish fighter jets destroyed 55 buildings used by ISIL as hideouts, two headquarters, two meeting points, a guard station, an arms depot, and a wireless station.

Turkey began a campaign inside Syria on August 24, attacking both ISIL (also known as ISIS) and Kurdish fighters.

After initial rapid progress, the campaign became mired in the deadly fight for Al Bab since December.

READ MORE: Operation Euphrates Shield - Progress and scope

At least 66 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the campaign since it started, mostly in ISIL attacks, according to Turkey's Dogan news agency. Turkey claims to have killed at least 2,705 ISIL members and 344 Kurdish fighters.

Al Bab has been under ISIL control since 2014, when the group seized large expanses of territory in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, proclaiming a caliphate.

Astana invitations

On the diplomatic front, President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebel delegations have been invited along with Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, to meetings in Astana on February 15-16, according to Kazakhstan's foreign ministry.

The talks in the Kazakh capital will discuss the implementation and consolidation of the ceasefire in Syria, the ministry said.

Representatives of Jordan and the US are also invited to the meeting.

The negotiations - brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey - began last month with the aim of solidifying a broad ceasefire, in effect since late December.

The three countries have mapped out the areas they believe are controlled by the moderate opposition forces included in the truce and the armed groups that are not. </s> BEIRUT (AP)— Turkey's state news agency Andadolu says the death toll from a car bomb near the town of al-Bab, just captured from Islamic State militants in northern Syria, has risen to 60. Most of the victims were civilians.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim , meanwhile, says a separate attack south of al-Bab killed two Turkish soldiers.

Friday's attacks come a day after the town was taken by Turkish forces and Syrian opposition fighters from Islamic State militants. IS militants withdrew from the town, but they still control areas around it.

In the first attack, a suicide car bomb struck outside a security office in Sousian village, north of al-Bab, killing civilians lining up seeking permits to return home. Yildrim says at least six Turkey-backed fighters were killed in that bombing.

The second attack took place near Tadif, a town still controlled by IS south of al-Bab. The Turkish military said the soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device went off but Yildrim called it a suicide attack that happened as the soldiers were on a road patrol. Three other Turkish soldiers were wounded.

The deaths raise the death toll of Turkish soldiers in northern Syria since August to 70. </s> BEIRUT – A car bombing north of a Syrian town just captured by Turkish forces and Syrian opposition fighters from the Islamic State group killed at least 35 people on Friday, mostly civilians who had gathered trying to go back home, Turkey’s news agency and Syrian activists said.

According to Mohammed al-Tawil, a leading Syrian opposition fighter in the area, a suicide attacker blew his small pick-up truck outside a security office in Sousian village, about 8 kilometres (5 miles) north of al-Bab.

The explosion went off as the opposition fighters were organizing the return of civilians from al-Bab who had been displaced by the fighting for their town, he said.

READ MORE: Syrian President welcomes US troops to fight ‘terrorists’ in Syria

Al-Bab, which had been controlled by IS since late 2013, was captured on Thursday, after more than two months of fighting led by Turkish troops supporting Syrian opposition fighters.

IS militants who withdrew from the town still control areas around it.

“A small civilian pick-up truck reached the gathering and went off at the security checkpoint,” al-Tawil said over the telephone from Sousian.

Al-Tawil, a member of the opposition al-Bab military council, said about four fighters manning the checkpoint were killed in the attack. Al-Tawil, who was at the security office at the time of the explosion, said the rest of the casualties were civilians from al-Bab.

READ MORE: Russian drone footage shows destruction of UNESCO sites in Syria

The Syrian opposition-run Qasioun news agency put the death toll at 45 while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 were killed.

Anadolu news agency said at least 41 of those wounded in the attack were taken to the Turkish border town of Kilis, where they are being treated in a state hospital. Some of the wounded were in serious condition, the agency said.

The Sousian security office was in charge of issuing permits and providing an escort for civilians wishing to return to al-Bab. Al-Tawil said at least two groups of about 150 civilians had already left early on Friday for al-Bab, accompanied by a mine sweeping unit operated by the Syrian opposition fighters.

“These people have suffered a lot … it was very difficult, and they have been waiting for this moment” to return home, al-Tawil said.

The Observatory said at least seven opposition fighters were killed in the town from land mines left behind by IS – a trademark of retreating militants.

Al-Bab had a prewar population of about 60,000, many of whom were displaced in neighbouring areas, including during the most recent clashes.

Footage emerging from al-Bab showed a deserted town, badly damaged by the war. At least one of the streets appears completely destroyed, with buildings crumbling or levelled on both sides. Trenches and earth berms have made other streets impassable, and nearly every building shows some signs of artillery shelling or heavy machine-gun fire.

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey. </s> The Latest on the developments in the Syrian conflict (all times local):

Syrian opposition activists say a second car bomb has exploded in a town just captured from Islamic State group militants by Turkish troops and Syrian fighters, leaving at least eight people dead.

The Aleppo Media Center and Thiqa News agency, media platforms operated by activists, reported the second explosion Friday in Sousian village, about eight kilometers (five miles) north of al-Bab.

An earlier explosion in the same village killed at least 60, most of them civilians lining up to return to the town after IS retreated.

Al-Bab was captured by the Turkish troops and Syrian fighters backed by Ankara on Thursday, after more than two months of intense fighting.

A Turkish military statement Friday says the Turkish troops and Syrian forces it backs are now in control of all neighborhoods of al-Bab but that efforts to clear it of mines and explosives are continuing. Earlier on Friday, two Turkish soldiers were killed in an explosion near the IS-held town of Tadif, south of al-Bab.

The U.N. envoy for Syria has kicked off his second day of meetings in Geneva aimed at reaching a political solution to end the country's devastating civil war.

Staffan de Mistura on Friday hosted a delegation from the government of President Bashar Assad and is hammering out a procedure for the talks that could go on for days. De Mistura is meeting with the sides separately and is to hold talks with an opposition delegation on Friday afternoon.

U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci is cautioning that "this process is in its very early days" and not to expect fast results. She says de Mistura is "seeking to facilitate a process, and this requires some delicate handling."

On Thursday, the two sides met face-to-face for the first time in three years under U.N. mediation.

Turkey's state news agency Andadolu says the death toll from a car bomb near the town of al-Bab, just captured from Islamic State militants in northern Syria, has risen to 60. Most of the victims were civilians.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, meanwhile, says a separate attack south al-Bab killed two Turkish soldiers.

Friday's attacks come a day after the town was taken by Turkish forces and Syrian opposition fighters from Islamic State militants. IS militants withdrew from the town, but they still control areas around it.

In the first attack, a suicide car bomb struck outside a security office in Sousian village, north of al-Bab, killing civilians lining up seeking permits to return home. Yildrim says at least six Turkey-backed fighters were killed in that bombing.

The second attack took place near Tadif, a town still controlled by IS south of al-Bab. The Turkish military said the soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device went off but Yildrim called it a suicide attack that happened as the soldiers were on a road patrol. Three other Turkish soldiers were wounded.

The deaths raise the death toll of Turkish soldiers in northern Syria since August to 70.

Turkey's news agency says a car bomb north of a town just captured by Turkish forces and Syrian opposition fighters from Islamic State militants has killed at least 35 people.

Anadolu news agency says the explosion on Friday killed civilians and Syrian opposition fighters in Sousian village, north of the town of al-Bab.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the bombing struck near a security post in the village. The Syrian opposition-run Qasioun news agency put the death toll at 45.

The report says the car bomb hit outside a security office where civilians had gathered seeking permission to return to al-Bab.

Al-Bab was captured on Thursday, after more than two months of fighting with IS militants who withdrew from the town but still control areas around it.
At least 47 ISIL militants have been killed by Turkish and U.S.-led bombing raids by fighter jets on the town of al-Bab in the last 24 hours, with the Turkish Armed Forces attacking 135 other ISIL targets in northern Syria.