Turkish forces fight ISIL to capture al-Bab

Clashes between Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants intensified in the central parts of Syria's al-Bab, where four Turkish soldiers and more than 45 jihadists were killed in fighting on Dec. 21. 

As part of the ongoing Euphrates Shied Operation, Turkish and Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels fought with the help of fighter jets and artillery fire for a hospital and the surrounding area in central al-Bab on Dec. 21, the Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement. 

"Once this area has been seized, Daesh's dominance of al-Bab will to a large extent be broken," it said in a statement, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL. 

Earlier in the day, the military said that with the support of rebels and ground and air elements, the road between the strategic Syrian cities of al-Bab and Aleppo was taken under control. 

ISIL was using suicide bombers and vehicle-borne explosives extensively, it said, adding that four bomb-laden vehicles with jihadists inside them were struck in air strikes. 

The military raised the death toll to four from three for the Turkish troops killed in the clashes in al-Bab after one more soldier out of the 16 wounded succumbed to his injuries at hospital. 

After the lightning speed of the earlier campaign that saw the border town of Jarablus taken on the first day of the offensive, the Turkish army has suffered increasing casualties in the fight for al-Bab.

With the latest additions, more than 20 Turkish troops have been killed as part of the Euphrates Shield Operation. 

On Aug. 24, the Turkish Armed Forces launched the Euphrates Shield Operation against both ISIL and the Syrian Kurdish People's...