Turkish state media: soldiers kill 4 suspected IS militants near border with Syria

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish soldiers on Saturday killed four suspected Islamic State militants in a clash near the border with Syria, the country’s state-run agency reported, as world leaders began to gather for an economic summit.

The Anadolu Agency said two cars believed to be carrying IS militants approached an armoured military vehicle, ignored warnings to stop and opened fire on the soldiers. The soldiers responded, killing four militants inside one of the cars. The second car escaped, Anadolu said.

The incident occurred close to a military border outpost near the town of Oguzeli, in Gaziantep province — some 700 kilometres east of the Mediterranean coastal resort where U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders of the world’s top 20 economies will meet Sunday and Monday. Some of the leaders arrived on Saturday.

The crisis in Syria and extremist terrorism, including by the Islamic State group, were already high on the G-20 agenda but Friday’s attacks across Paris which have killed at least 127 people have added new urgency to the G-20 discussions in the coastal resort of Antalya.

The IS group is blamed for two massive bombings in Turkey — one in the Syrian border town of Suruc and in the capital Ankara — that killed about 130 people in July and October.

Turkey has carried out sweeps against suspected IS militants in the weeks leading to the summit meeting, detaining dozens of people, including some 20 suspects who were nabbed in and around Antalya.