More than 50 Islamic State fighters killed in Turkish shelling near Aleppo

Dozens of Islamic State fighters have been killed north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Turkish military claims. The 55 fighters died in shelling, which also took out three vehicles and three rocket installations, according to military sources. It came hours after Iran said several of its soldiers were killed near the city, in what appeared to be one of the country’s biggest losses in Syria since it deployed forces in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. However, a fragile 72-hour truce in the city itself seemed to be holding, with residents trickling back and some schools reopening.

I decided to come home after relatives told me it was calm. We left because it was carnage here. The air strikes were incredible.

Father-of-six Abu Mohammed

More than 300 civilians were killed in two weeks of fighting in Aleppo before the truce took hold on Thursday. But fighting continued in the countryside to the south of the city, one of the main areas where Iranian-backed forces are deployed, has grown worse. The 13 Iranian military advisers were killed and 21 wounded as Islamist insurgents seized the village of Khan Touman, nine miles south-west of Aleppo, a Revolutionary Guards official said.

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