3,000 IS militants killed in Turkey, says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkish forces have killed nearly 3,000 Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, insisting that no other country has matched Turkey’s efforts against the extremist group.

In an address to the military chiefs of Balkan nations on Wednesday, Mr. Erdogan also denounced nations who have accused Turkey of supporting IS as “vile.”

At the same meeting earlier, the Turkish military chief, put the number of IS militants killed Syria and Iraq at 1,300. Erdogan’s aides could not immediately be reached to explain the differing figures.

Erdogan said: “There have been those who have … been vile by showing Turkey as a country that helps Daesh (Islamic State). No country in the world has conducted the struggle we are conducting.”