Turkish warplanes bomb IS territories in Syria

Istanbul

Turkish fighter jets early Friday bombed positions of Islamic State jihadists inside Syria for the first time, in a dramatic escalation of fighting after the killing of a Turkish soldier in cross-border clashes, the prime minister's office said.

Three Turkish F-16s took off from the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir and conducted an early morning bombing raid against three IS targets, dropping four guided bombs, the statement said. 

The operation came after the first major cross-border clashes between Turkey and IS jihadists on Thursday that left one Turkish soldier and one militant dead.

The decision to launch the air operation was taken at a meeting of security officials in Ankara late Thursday chaired by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. 

"In this context.... an operation was carried out against targets belonging to Daesh inside the Syrian border," the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. 

"Three of our F-16s hit... three targets belonging to Daesh," it said, adding that "the government of the Turkish Republic is determined to take the necessary measures to protect national security".

The planes dropped their bombs just before 4:00 am local time (0100 GMT) and all returned safely to their base.