Turkish army says it fired on Syria's Islamist militants positions

Turkey's army said on Wednesday that it had fired on al-Qaeda-linked islamic militants in northern Syria after a mortar bomb hit Turkish territory.

Howitzer units fired four salvos at positions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham after a mortar round from the Azaz area landed close to the Turkish army border post at Demirisik, near the town of Kilis, on Oct. 15, the military said on its website yesterday, adding that the round did not explode.

"In response to this situation, four shells were fired by two Firtina (Storm) howitzers at positions of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in the Azaz/Parsa mountain," it said.

Some 85 members of Syria's North Storm Brigade turned themselves in with their weapons to Turkish forces at Demirisik on the same day, the army said, without saying whether the Islamists were firing at the men.