Turkish soldier killed near Iraq border

Turkey says an army sergeant has been killed in an attack near the country’s border with Iraq.

The Turkish army said in a statement that the soldier in civilian clothes was "shot in the head in front of a bank," by a fighter with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist group by Ankara, in the mainly Kurdish town of Semdinli, on Tuesday.

He succumbed to his wounds after being taken to the hospital.

A military police major was also killed in an ambush in the southeastern Turkish province of Mus, on Monday. Authorities detained 10 people for questioning over the incident.

Turkey has recently launched airstrikes against positions held by ISIL militants in Syria and PKK in Iraq, after a deadly bomb attack which left 32 people dead in the southwestern town of Suruç, across the border from the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani.

Meanwhile, NATO announced its support for Turkey’s airstrikes against Iraq and Syria after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan requested the military alliance to be prepared to assist his country in its war against the militants.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg voiced the organization's position during an opening session of an emergency meeting in the Belgian capital, Brussels, requested by Turkey.

Erdogan said Turkey had no plans of ending its airstrikes against the two neighboring nations. He also said it was impossible to stick to a peace process with the Kurds, who are seeking self-rule in the country's south, after accusing them of carrying out continued attacks.

Turkey’s new approach toward ISIL militants comes as Ankara is considered to be one of the main supporters of the foreign-backed militants fighting to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.

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