Turkish Soldier Killed in Firefight With ISIS Along the

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lt;pgt;Clashes between the Turkish military and Islamic State (ISIS) militants on the Syrian-Turkish border have resulted in the death of a Turkish soldier in what is believed to be the first armed confrontation between the two parties, according to local media lt;a href=quot;http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/as-it-happened-turkish-army-engages-in-first-gunfight-with-isil-after-soldier-killed-on-border.aspx?pageID=238nID=85843NewsCatID=359quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;reportslt;/agt;.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;The attack took place on a border post on the Syrian side, and ISIS militants injured two other Turkish soldiers, the governor of Kilis province Suleyman Tapsiz told the lt;a href=quot;http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/561133--turkey-officer-killed-after-gunfire-from-syriaquot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Andalou news agencylt;/agt;. The Turkish military responded with artillery fire, reportedly killing one ISIS militant.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;Unfortunately, one of our non-commissioned officers has been martyred and two sergeants injured,quot; Tapsiz told the news agency.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;The attack came after Turkey announced that it is to build a 90 mile-long (150km) quot;modular wallquot; on its shared border with Syria to enhance security following Monday#039;s massacre in Suruç. The attack saw a suicide bomber, whom Turkish officials say is linked to ISIS, kill least 32 people outside a cultural centre in the southeastern Turkish town. (ISIS has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack).lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Turkey is to reinforce wire fencing along the border and create extra ditches, a senior government official told lt;a href=quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/23/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-idUSKCN0PX15J20150723quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Reuterslt;/agt;. Turkey is to also repair border patrol roads in a $86 million upgrade and install floodlights along 73 miles (118km) of the border.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;The additional border measures were revealed by the Turkish official just a day after U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to cooperate on preventing quot;the flow of foreign fightersquot; across the shared border in a call on Wednesday.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;Critical sections [of the border] have been identified. Priority will be given to these areas and measures will be taken with all technological capabilities,quot; said the deputy prime minister, Bülent Arınç.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Turkey, a member of NATO, has been criticised by its Western allies for its porous borders. Washington has previously said Turkish inaction has allowed thousands of foreign jihadists to cross into Syria to join radical Islamist groups, such as ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and have urged Ankara to do more to secure the border.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Meanwhile, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers#039; Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. and the European Union, has claimed responsibility for a number of revenge murders carried out on Wednesday following the Suruç attack.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;The Kurdish militants, who have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government, claimed they were behind the murder of two Turkish police officers in their shared home in the town of Ceylanpinar on Wednesday, alleging that the pair had collaborated with ISIS militants. They said the attack was a reprisal for a number of activists killed in the Suruç bombing.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;The outlawed group#039;s youth wing, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, also claimed responsibility for the reprisal murder of a man, alleged to have fought for ISIS in Syria, in the country#039;s biggest city, Istanbul, on Tuesday. The group claimed that the victim, Mürsel Gül, had fought against Kurdish militias in northern Syria, according to Turkish website lt;a href=quot;http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkk-claims-responsibility-for-killing-of-suspected-isil-fighter-in-istanbul.aspx?pageID=238nID=85802NewsCatID=509quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Hurriyet Daily Newslt;/agt;.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;In a separate murder on Thursday, two masked assailants in black shirts killed a Turkish police officer and injured his colleague in a gun attack in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;In response to the PKK#039;s claimed extrajudicial murders, Erdoğan condemned Turkey#039;s largest Kurdish party, the Peoples#039; Democratic Party, on Wednesday for not denouncing the killings. The party#039;s leadership said it regretted the executions but chose not to condemn the PKK.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;It#039;s disgraceful for circles—who have openly expressed that they rely on the terror organisation—to not be able to show courage to condemn and instead remain silent on the PKK#039;s brutal terror acts,quot; the Turkish president wrote.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;With the PKK allegedly taking the law into their own hands against the radical Islamist group, the fighting between Kurds and ISIS in northern Syria is threatening to cross onto Turkish soil, dragging Erdogan#039;s ruling party directly into conflict with both.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;In the past month, the Turkish government has cracked down on ISIS militants inside the country following last month#039;s parliamentary elections while, earlier this month, PKK-linked Kurdish militants lt;a href=quot;https://www.newsweek.com/kurdish-militants-threaten-attacks-turkish-dams-330221quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;threatened to carry outlt;/agt; guerrilla attacks on Turkey#039;s dams being constructed in the country#039;s southeast.lt;/pgt;

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