Turkish warplanes kill 20 Islamic State group fighters

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s military said Sunday its warplanes have killed 20 Islamic State group fights in an attack on targets in northern Syria, while Turkey’s president renewed a pledge to destroy the group.

The Chief of General Staff’s office said in a statement that warplanes had struck three buildings identified as belonging to the IS group.

A vehicle and motorcycle also were destroyed in the Saturday evening airstrike that came less than two days before a U.S.-Russia agreement on a ceasefire in Syria takes effect.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday reiterated his government’s commitment to eliminating IS in Syria and the threat the group poses to Turkey.

Erdogan said in a videotaped message marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha that Turkey has a “primary duty” to its people to destroy IS and prevent it from staging attacks in Turkey.

Turkey last month sent tanks across the Syrian border to help rebels retake Jarablus, a key IS-held border town, and to contain the expansion of a Syrian Kurdish militia.

Turkish jets have carried out several strikes against IS targets in Syria since the operation began. But clashes have also reportedly broken out between Turkish and Kurdish forces in the area.