BEIRUT – Turkey has started to remove mines planted by ISIS along a strip of territory near a Syrian border town, only a day after an Ankara-backed rebel group declared the area a “military zone” and advised civilians to leave.
A mine sweeper arrived Tuesday morning in Gaziantep province’s Karkamis district in southern Turkey to remove the landmines planted by ISIS along the Syrian-Turkish border near Jarabulus, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.
A source told the agency that Turkish forces have taken “wide-ranging security measures in the area to respond to any potential attack.”
Ambulances and medical crews were also dispatched to the border area in the event of any injuries that might occur during the de-mining process.
ISIS fighters based in Jarabulus had reportedly bolstered defensive measures following reports that Turkey was moving toward establishing a “safe zone” stretching from the border town to Aazaz, a region controlled by the jihadist group.