After frustrating some of its NATO allies by refusing them the use of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey has finally agreed to allow planes from the US-led coalition against the "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group to take off from the base, US defense officials said on Thursday.

Incirlik's position in the south of Turkey, much nearer to the Syrian border than the Gulf bases the coalition has been using as the starting point of its airstrikes, could be a major strategic advantage for the coalition.

The disclosure of the agreement comes a day after President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to "deepen" cooperation in the fight against IS during a phone call, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

When asked to confirm the situation regarding Incirlik, Earnest replied: "I'm not able to talk about some of those issues because of specific operations' security concerns."

Turkish officials also declined to make a comment on the report.

Following some reluctance on the part of Ankara to directly engage IS, Turkey has faced increased security problems along its 900 kilometer (560 mile) border with Syria. A suicide attack thought to have been the work of IS struck the border town of Suruc earlier this week, killing 32 activists who had planned to travel to Syrian city of Kobani and help rebuild after IS was finally driven from the town a few months ago.

Earlier on Thursday, the Turkish army fired tank shells across the border after IS killed a soldier near Kilis, where the government had only recently sent reinforcements.

Shortly after the soldier was killed, Turkish F-16 jets were rushed to the border area, along with the tanks and other armored vehicles. A Turkish official confirmed that a "clash is going on at the moment" between Turkey and IS.

es/bw (AP, dpa, Reuters)