Turkish military: Al-Bab fully taken from ISIL

Turkey and Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels gained full control of Syria's al-Bab as part of the Euphrates Shield operation, the Turkish Armed Forces said Feb. 24, on a day in which two Turkish soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the city, as dozens of others were also killed in a separate attack. 

The military said clean-up work regarding obstacles, mines and hand-made explosives was ongoing.

According to the military, control was gained in a total of 230 residential areas and 1,925 square kilometers.
The FSA now has control of a 2,225-square-kilometer area along with the Azaz region, it said.

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and three more were wounded in an attack south of al-Bab staged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Turkish military said Feb. 24. 

The statement said the wounded soldiers were brought immediately to a hospital but were not thought to be in a life-threatening condition.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım acknowledged the incident while speaking to reporters outside a mosque in Ankara after prayers on Feb. 24.      
 
Yıldırım said the suicide attack targeted Turkish soldiers who were conducting road checks at the entrance of al-Bab. 

He added that clean-up works in al-Bab were continuing with the utmost caution to prevent casualties due to the presence of hand-made explosives and bomb set-ups in the city.

An ISIL car bomb killed more than 40 people on Feb. 24 in a Syrian village held by rebels, a war monitor said, a day after the jihadist group was driven from al-Bab.

The blast in the village of Sousian hit a security checkpoint controlled by rebels fighting under the FSA banner.

The Syrian Observatory for Human...