ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Ankara is ready to take action against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria after a night of bombarding the group’s positions across the border. "We are making our necessary preparations to clean up across the border due to problems happening in (the southern province of) Kilis," media reports quoted him as saying. "We have not got the desired support from our allies yet, especially from the countries which have armed forces in the region," he said in comments at a meeting in Ankara. His comments followed a night of bombings on ISIS positions across the border in Syria. Turkish artillery and coalition jets bombarded ISIS just south of the Turkish-Syrian border overnight on Wednesday, killing 28 militants, according to Turkish media reports. Turkey has frequently retaliated against ISIS rocket attacks on the Turkish border town of Kilis with artillery counter fire since January. ISIS rocket attacks on Kilis have killed 23 civilians to date. Kilis is home to some 100,000 Syrian refugees. The US-led coalition is also stepping up its support of the Turkish retaliations with airstrikes, which can more effectively target the mobile ISIS rocket launchers. Erdogan claimed on Wednesday that the Turkish military has killed 3,000 ISIS militants in both Iraq and Syria, without specifying when. Ankara reportedly killed 55 militants near its border in Syria last Saturday in an operation which saw Turkish Special Forces make a brief ground incursion. While initially reluctant to join the US-led campaign against ISIS, Turkey has targeted the militants more regularly, since the rocket attacks on Kilis and bombings in both Ankara and Istanbul. Since July 2015, after declaring a war on terror, Turkey primarily focused on the resumption of hostilities with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
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