BRUSSELS: The United States for the first time Sunday deployed half a dozen F-16 warplanes to Turkey to help operations against ISIS, U.S. officials said.

The deployment marks the first time since an international coalition began bombing ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria a year ago that U.S. jets will launch strikes from Turkey, following an accord signed with Ankara late last month.

“Six U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons deploy to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to support the fight against ISIL,” the U.S. mission to NATO said in a tweet, using a variant name for the militant group.

The arrival of the fighter jets in Turkey along with support equipment and around 300 personnel was confirmed by the U.S. European Command in a statement.

“The detachment is from the 31st Fighter Wing based at Aviano Air Base, Italy. This follows Turkey’s decision to host the deployment of U.S. aircraft conducting counter-ISIL operations,” it said. “The U.S. and Turkey, as members of the 60-plus nation coalition, are committed to the fight against ISIL in the pursuit of peace and stability in the region.”

The U.S. up to now has used armed drones from Incirlik to strike ISIS targets in Syria, supporting the Turkish air campaign against the militants. According to media reports some 30 U.S. fighters are due to arrive in the coming days to take part in the operation.

A member of NATO, Turkey had refused to participate actively in the anti-ISIS operations for fear of supporting the Kurdish fighters battling the militant on the border in Syria.

But Ankara changed its position after a deadly bombing blamed on ISIS on July 20 in Suruc, a Turkish town opposite the Syrian flashpoint of Ain al-Arab – known in Kurdish as Kobani – that left 32 people dead.

If ISIS is proven to be responsible for the bombing, it would mark the group’s first strike on Turkish soil.

Turkey in response on July 24 launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against ISIS militants in Syria and also PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country.

But so far the Turkish raids have concentrated on the PKK targets, and only three of them have officially been identified as targeting ISIS.

The PKK’s insurgency for greater rights and autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish minority began more than 30 years ago and has left tens of thousands dead.

On Sunday the official Anadolu news agency reported that nearly 400 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed and hundreds injured in two weeks of Turkish airstrikes on positions in northern Iraq.

Also Sunday, PKK militants attacked a military outpost and a police car in southeast Turkey overnight, killing one policeman, officials and security sources said.

PKK gunmen opened fire on a police car in the town of Midyat in Mardin province, killing one officer and wounding another, the Mardin governor’s office said in a statement.

PKK fighters also fired rockets at a military outpost in the Bulanik district of Mus province, triggering a brief gunfight, security sources said. There were no reports of casualties.

A day earlier six people were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

The PKK had already said earlier in July that it was stepping up attacks and accused Turkey of violating a 2013 cease-fire.

Alarmed at the rising violence, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party leader urged the militant Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] Saturday to “remove its finger from the trigger” and said the government should launch talks to halt the violence.

Anadolu said 24 security force members had been killed in militant attacks in the last month, and 12 PKK fighters had been killed in clashes. 

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the U.S. and EU, launched its insurgency in 1984. In 2012 Ankara launched a peace process with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, jailed on Imrali island south of Istanbul.