ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey-backed forces may go deeper into Syria after securing a 90 km (56 mile) stretch of land along the Turkish border, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara after a cabinet meeting, Canikli also said that a total of 110 Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters have been killed since Turkey began its military campaign in Syria on Aug.24.
The campaign, called "Euphrates Shield", has seen Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies sweep Islamic State from Turkey's border. Ankara also wants to check the advance of U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region.
Canikli also said that President Tayyip Erdogan had told U.S. President Barack Obama that he viewed a joint operation in Syria's Raqqa positively.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
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