Turkish fire targets ISIL bomber's town

A spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has confirmed that Turkish artillery strikes are firing on an area in Syria known as the hometown of the suicide bomber who killed 10 people in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square on Jan. 12. 

"We've seen the Turks fire some artillery to very good effect in the Manbij pocket," said Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman Colonel Steve Warren on Jan. 12 via teleconference connecting from Baghdad. 

"We're continuing to work with the Turks to tighten up our coordination with them on the artillery strikes they do in that area, but yes they are targeting," Warren added. 

Manbij is located near Turkey's southern border with Syria and has been determined as the home village of 28-year-old Nabil Fadli, the ISIL suicide bomber who detonated himself in Istanbul's most touristic spot on Jan. 12 and killed 10 German tourists. 

Manbij is where the Fadli family live, according to a report in The Times newspaper. Fadli lived with his family in Saudi Arabia until he was eight-years-old and then moved to Damascus. From the Syrian capital, the family later moved to Manbij, which is located around 30-kilometers from both the Turkish border to the north and the Euphrates River to the east. 

The British newspaper also reported that Fadli was among the first people to join ISIL after the town was captured by the jihadist group.

The area around Manbij is known as the Manbij pocket, on which Warren said Turkey was conducting artillery strikes. 

The area is of strategic importance to Turkey, as it does not want the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Syria,...