Turkish military kills 38 IS militants in nothern Syria

Thirty-eight Islamic State militants were killed in northern Syria over the last 24 hours, the Turkish military said on Sunday, marking an escalation of conflict in the area where Syrian rebels, backed by Turkey, are fighting the jihadists.

Supported by Turkish tanks and air strikes, rebels have been pushing towards the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Dabiq in an operation launched in late August.

Fourteen of the IS fighters were killed as they attempted to enter the rebel-controlled villages of Akhtarin and Turkmen Bareh, three kilometers (two miles) east of Dabiq, the Turkish army said in a statement.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that IS fighters had captured those villages in a counter attack near the Turkish border, but the Turkish military statement contradicted this account.