Turkey, US ink deal on joint military operations against IS

Turkey and the US have concluded "technical talks" on military operations and sealed a deal against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

The US and Turkish military have signed the agreement, the minister told reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara, but he did not give further details on when US-Turkish joint operations against the IS will start, Xinhua reported.

In July, Turkey carried out the first airstrikes against IS targets in Syria. In early August, US warplanes started to use Incirlik Airbase in Adana province in southern Turkey for airstrikes against IS militants in Syria.

Turkey was earlier reluctant to take part in military operations against the IS, but negotiations on the issue between Ankara and Washington have accelerated since early 2015.

Ankara has beefed up security measures against the flow of jihadists through its border and detained dozens of IS militants in Turkey since early 2015.

Turkey's strikes against the IS have intensified after a suspected IS suicide bombing killed 33 people on July 20 in Suruc town of Sanliurfa province in southern Turkey near the Syrian border.