ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes killed 51 Islamic State militants in operations over the last 24 hours, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

Warplanes destroyed 85 Islamic State targets in the areas of al-Bab, Tadif, Kabbasin and Bzagah, including buildings and vehicles.

Turkey launched an operation, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, to drive jihadists away from the Syrian border more than five months ago and has been besieging the Islamic State controlled town of al-Bab for weeks.