News Digest

Turks infiltrate IS territory to rescue 40 troops guarding Suleyman’s tomb

Almost 600 Turkish soldiers crossed the border deep inside Syria overnight in a successful operation to rescue troops guarding a Turkish enclave surrounded by Islamic State (IS) militants. The Turkish troops, reportedly numbering around 40, were guarding the mausoleum complex of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire’s founder, Osman I. The tomb containing the remains was also successfully brought back to Turkey and Suleyman Shah will be reburied in a different pocket of Syria over which Turkey has also secured control, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

The remains of (Suleyman Shah) have been temporarily repatriated and will be reburied inside Syria at a later date.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

One soldier was killed in an accident during the operation to relieve the guards at the tomb on the Euphrates River some 30 kilometres inside Syrian territory. The Turkish army said the soldier lost his life in the “initial stage” of the operation but emphasised there were no clashes during the mission. The army said the decision to relieve the guards at the tomb was taken because of the worsening security situation in the area, part of Syria’s Aleppo province that is under the control of IS jihadists who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria.