Turkey on Tuesday pounded Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the jihadists after a deadly suicide bombing on its soil.
With tensions flaring on the Turkey-Syria border following the bombing in the nearby city of Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, Turkish howitzers on Monday hit jihadist and Kurdish rebel targets across the frontier.
Turkey has been shaken by one of the bloodiest years in its modern history, with a string of attacks by IS jihadists and Kurdish militants and the botched July 15 coup.
In new fighting, two mortar rounds fired from an IS-controlled area in Syria hit the southeastern Turkish town of Karkamis, Turkish television reported.
Turkish artillery responded by hitting four IS positions around the jihadist-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus with around 60 shells, it said.
The shelling came after as activists said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against the IS group to seize control of Jarablus.