The Turkish military has killed 68 Daesh terrorists in northern Syria's Al-Bab on Friday, the 122nd day of Operation Euphrates Shield, a military spokesperson said in a written statement.
A total of 141 Daesh targets including a military headquarter was destroyed as part of the operation, the statement said.
Two fighters of the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) were killed and another was wounded during clashes with the terrorists.
The statement added that a drone and an armed vehicle were also destroyed during the operations.
The Turkish army supports the FSA fighters to liberate Al-Bab from Daesh, a strategic city for the terrorist group.
The operation is part of the Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield which began in late Aug. to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along Turkey's border using FSA fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets.
Since the launch of the Operation Euphrates Shield, the Turkish explosive ordnance disposal teams neutralized 2,208 handmade explosives in areas cleaned from Daesh.
Turkey's Defense Minister Fikri Işık told Parliament on Thursday that a nearly 2,000-square-kilometer area has been cleared of the Daesh terror group and more than 1,000 terrorists have been killed in northern Syria since the launch of Operation Euphrates Shield.
Highlighting that Operation Euphrates Shield is moving forward in line with international law, Işık said: "The liberation of Jarablus, al-Rai, and Dabiq, which has a symbolic meaning for the group, is significant. An area of about 2,000-square-kilometers has been cleared off, and 225 urbanized areas have been liberated. As of today, 1,005 terrorists have been killed." Işık added that 29 mortars, 97 vehicles, 621 buildings and 61 defense positions belonging to the group have been destroyed so far.
As part of Turkey's new approach to its anti-terror, Ankara has vowed to fight terror groups at their roots, before they are able to carry out attacks within Turkey's borders.
As such, it argues that Daesh, as well as PKK terror threats, must be eliminated from Syria and Iraq before they are able to move into Turkey.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said recently, "Turkey has limited the Daesh threat through Operation Euphrates Shield. `We will conduct similar operations on our southern border."
The Prime Minister's remarks have been understood as a move which would mean an expansion of cross-border operations into northern Iraq, including the Qandil Mountains and Sinjar, to fight PKK targets, in addition to expansion of Operation Euphrates Shield into other PYD-held regions in Syria.