DHAKA: Turkey's air force has attacked Islamic State (IS) positions in Syria and Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq to defend the country's security, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu says.

Davutoglu added that 590 suspected IS and PKK members had been arrested.

This follows a week which saw a bomb attack blamed on IS kill 32 people in the Turkish town of Suruc.

Subsequent clashes with IS fighters on the Turkey-Syria border led to the death of a Turkish soldier, reports bbc.com.

The PKK's military wing said it had killed two Turkish police officers on Wednesday, claiming they had collaborated with IS in the bombing in Suruc, which targeted left-wing activists.

US White House spokesman Alistair Baskey said Turkey had the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks by Kurdish rebels and urged the PKK to renounce terrorism.

But he said that Ankara should also avoid violence towards the PKK and seek to de-escalate the conflict.

BDST: 0950 HRS, JULY 26, 2015
RS