Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


               Two Police, Seven Militants Dead in Turkey IS Raid

   by VOA News

   A raid on an Islamic State cell in southeastern Turkey left two Turkish
   police officers and nine militants dead Monday, as authorities press
   their effort to combat the extremists based across the border in Syria.

   Monday's firefight happened in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir
   where police raided multiple houses.  Security officials said four
   police officers were injured and three militants were captured.

   Turkish authorities have blamed the Islamic State group for a double
   suicide bombing in Turkey's capital, Ankara, earlier this month that
   killed more than 100 people.

   Turkey is also hosting about half of the 4 million Syrian refugees who
   have registered with the United Nations after fleeing Syria.  The
   number of Syrians in Turkey has more than doubled since this time last
   year, adding to the strain the Syrian conflict has placed on the
   country's neighbors.

   Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday reiterated his focus on
   eliminating the threat of terrorists in Syria, saying that would lead
   to the political solution people in his country want to end the crisis
   that began there in March 2011.

   Assad met with a group of Russian lawmakers and other officials in
   Damascus, and the state-run SANA news agency said the president
   stressed that taking out terrorist groups would preserve Syria's
   sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

   ''

   One member of the Russian delegation, lawmaker Alexander Yushchenko,
   relayed that Assad said he was prepared to take part in a new
   presidential election, as well as holding a vote for parliament, if
   that is what the Syrian people want.

   The Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State
   John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed in a
   phone call the "prospects" for an internationally-backed political
   settlement in Syria that would involve Syrian authorities and
   "patriotic opposition."

   Assad is serving his third term as president after he was elected for
   another seven years last year.  That vote was held only in areas
   controlled by the government and was boycotted by the opposition.
   Assad won 89 percent of the vote.

   Since then, Islamic State militants seized large areas in eastern
   Syria, including the group's de facto capital in Raqqa.  About 30
   percent of the more than 240,000 people who have been killed in the
   Syrian conflict have died since the vote, while the United Nations
   registered another 1.3 million refugees who fled the country.  More
   than 4 million have fled since the civil war began.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/police-militants-dead-in-turkey-is-ra
   id/3022908.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/police-militants-dead-in-turkey-is-raid/3022908.html