Turkey vows 'total war' against terrorism amid repeated attacks

Ankara, Aug 26: With Turkey coming under repeated terror attacks in recent days, Prime Minister Bili Yildirim on Friday declared “total war” against terrorism. “Let our tion know that we have opened a total war against these terrorist groups,” Xinhua news agency quoted Yildirim as saying at a joint press conference in Istanbul with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov. “We will give all kinds of necessary response to these villains who targeted the fellowship and unity of 79 million people,” Yildirim said. Eleven police officers were killed and 75 persons injured earlier in the day when a police checkpoint in the city of Cizre was hit by a bomb-laden truck, the latest in a series of bombing attacks in Turkey. The Islamic State (IS) militant group and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, whose militants are fighting the government forces in Turkey, are blamed for the attacks. Referring to the Turkish army’s cross-border operation in northern Syria on Wednesday, in which IS militants were driven out of the Syrian border town of Jarablus, Yildirim said the operation will continue until Turkey’s security is achieved completely and all the IS elements are removed from the area. (IANS)