Turkish special forces backed by coalition air support launched an incursion into Syria in the early hours on Wednesday to take the town of Jarabulus from the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu reported.

Turkish tanks crossed the border into Syria in what officials are calling operation “Euphrates Shield”, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stating on Wednesday that his forces would be targeting “terrorist groups like Daesh (IS) and PYD,” referring to the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party, whose military wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) continue to make military gains in northern Syria.

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At least 51 people were killed and dozens were wounded when a suspected suicide bomber detonated his explosives among people dancing on the street at a wedding party in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday, security and hospital sources said.

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At least 11 people were killed and over 120 injured after a string of car bombs targeting police stations exploded in Turkey. A car bombing attack on a police station in the eastern province of Van late Wednesday killed a police officer and two civilians. Dozens of other people, including some 20 police officers, were wounded, officials said.

The attack targeted a police headquarters in the central Ipekyolu district of Van city, Van governorate official Mehmet Parlak was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency, blaming the “regional terror group”, the official phrase for the PKK.

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Russia has deployed long-range bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan to carry out air strikes against militants in Syria, the Russian government said on Tuesday.

“On 16 August, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamadan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib,” a defence ministry statement said.

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Four Turkish police officers and two civilians were killed on Monday in a car bombing outside the southeastern city of Diyarbakir blamed on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels, the government said.

The blast hit a police traffic control post on the highway leading southeast from Diyarbakir to the city of Batman, killing the six victims, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara.

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