Turkish president confirms US use of Incirlik base

Turkey has agreed to let the U.S. use the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey for military operations against Islamic State militants, "within a certain framework," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Friday.

Erdogan did not elaborate on details of the agreement, which U.S. and Turkish officials had said Erdogan had made in a telephone conversation earlier this week with President Barak Obama.

Confirmation came hours after Turkish warplanes struck Islamic State group targets across the border in Syria on Friday.

The bombing, coming a day after IS militants killed a soldier at a Turkish military outpost, is a strong tactical shift for Turkey, which had long been reluctant to join the U.S.-led coalition against the extremist group.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the airstrikes had "removed potential threats" to Turkey and targets were hit with "100 percent accuracy." He did not rule out further strikes, saying Turkey was determined to stave off all terror threats against it.

"This was not a point operation, this is a process," Davutoglu said. "It is not limited to one day or to one region... The slightest movement threatening Turkey will be retaliated against in the strongest way possible."

Turkish police on Friday launched a major operation against terror groups including IS, carrying out simultaneous raids in Istanbul and 12 provinces and detaining more than 290 people.

A government official said three F-16 jets took off from Diyarbakir air base in southeast Turkey early Friday and used smart bombs to hit three IS targets. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of government rules requiring authorization for comment, said the targets were two command centers and a gathering point of IS supporters.

Turkish media said the targets were the Syrian village of Hawar al-Naht, near the border, but officials would not confirm the location.