ANKARA: Turkey’s foreign minister says Turkish and US officials have concluded “technical talks” on operations against the Islamic State group (IS).

Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on Tuesday that Turkish and US military officials have sealed an agreement on technical details and procedures.Cavusoglu didn’t provide details, but he has previously said an extensive and coordinated operation against the militant group would start soon.

Ending months of reluctance, Turkey has agreed to a deeper involvement in the fight against IS. It has carried out raids against IS targets in Syria and is allowing a key air base close to the Syrian border to be used in the US-led campaign against the extremists. The move follows a suicide bombing in July, blamed on IS, which killed 33 people in Suruc on the Syrian border.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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