Jerusalem (AFP) - Jewish settlers clashed with Israeli police on Tuesday as authorities took control of homes being built in the occupied West Bank, after a court ruled that the illegal structures must be demolished.

The Israeli High Court last month ordered the two structures in the Beit El settlement north of Ramallah to be razed before July 30.

Around 50 settler youths had however holed up in the structures to protest against the demolition and were evacuated by police before dawn.

Video released by local media showed police pushing back protesters who confronted them at the site of the so-called Dreinoff buildings, reportedly being built on private Palestinian land that was seized by the army in the 1970s.

"A border police unit on Tuesday took control of the Dreinoff buildings ahead of their demolition as ordered by the High Court with the aim of avoiding violence during the operation," an Israeli military statement said.

There has however been further legal manoeuvring seeking to prevent the demolition of the structures and it was unclear whether the order would be carried out.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also opposes the demolition and his government was pursuing legal means to prevent it, according to a statement from his office.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law, though not by the Israeli government. They are seen as further complicating peace negotiations aimed at leading to an independent Palestinian state. Talks have been stalled since last year.

Settlement organisations also wield significant influence in Netanyahu's right-wing government, which has only a narrow majority in parliament following March elections.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, several hundred people illegally entered the former Sa-Nur settlement in the northern West Bank. Israel had evacuated the settlement in 2005.

Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara could not continue the peace process with the Kurds amid continuing attacks against Turkish targets.

"It is not possible to carry on the (peace) process with those who target our national unity and brotherhood," he said, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey, which considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, launched peace negotiations with the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012, but the two sides have yet to reach an accord.

Ankara has expanded the cross-border campaign against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, beginning last week to include PKK positions in northern Iraq, after deadly attacks inside Turkey blamed on the Kurdish separatists.

Late on Monday, gunmen in a predominantly Kurdish part of eastern Turkey shot dead a paramilitary police commander -- the latest attack that Erdogan has blamed on Kurdish militants.

"Those who exploit the people's and the state's tolerance and patience will receive the answer they deserve as soon as possible," he said.

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A Turkish soldier check cars at a checkpoint in Diyarbakir, on July 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ilyas Akengi …

Erdogan vowed that Turkey's operations against Kurdish militants and Islamic State jihadists would continue "with determination".

"Any step back is out of the question. This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination," he told reporters at an Ankara airport before leaving for China on an official visit.

He also voiced hope that NATO, which is holding an emergency meeting on Tuesday, would take necessary steps. "Turkey will use whatever rights stemming from international law till the very end" to protect itself from attacks, he added.

Turkey is likely to face questions at the NATO meeting over its decision to lump its campaigns against the Kurds and IS together into a broad "war on terror", even though the secular Kurdish groups and the Islamist IS are themselves bitterly opposed.

Erdogan also said the formation of a safe zone in the north of war-torn Syria, free from IS, would help the return of many refugees.

"The clearance of those regions and the creation of a safe zone there will lay the ground for 1.7 million citizens here to return home," he said.

Brussels (AFP) - NATO on Tuesday gave its strong backing to Turkey's fight against "terrorism" at an emergency meeting called to discuss Ankara's strikes against Islamic State fighters and Kurdish rebels.

The talks in Brussels came as President Tayyip Erdogan insisted that Turkey would press on with the dual offensive against two mutually hostile groups despite questions about his country's motives.

Opening the meeting of ambassadors from all 28 NATO states, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the US-led military alliance was "following developments very closely and we stand in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey".

"Terrorism in all its forms can never be tolerated or justified. It is right and timely that we hold this meeting today to address the instability on Turkey's doorstep and on NATO's border," he said.

Turkey requested the meeting after a bloody suicide bombing it blamed on the Islamic State group in the southeastern town of Suruc last week.

The attack, which killed 32 people, saw Turkey combine campaigns against Kurdish militants and IS into a broad "war on terror" even though the two groups are themselves bitterly opposed.

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A member of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) mans a mounted machine gun in the Al-Nas …

The United States and Turkey said Monday they had agreed to work together to create an IS-free zone in northern Syria in a potentially game-changing accord.

But the attacks on the Kurds have surprised its NATO allies and raised questions over whether Turkey, fearful of seeing a Kurd state emerge on its southern border, is more interested in limiting Kurdish capabilities than in tackling IS in Iraq and Syria.

NATO allies have until now seen Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as one of the most effective military options against IS as it continues its advance.

Erdogan insisted Tuesday that Ankara would press its attacks to the full.

"Any step back is out of the question. This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination," Erdogan told reporters before leaving on a visit to China.

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The funeral of left-wing militant Gunay Ozarslan is held on July 27, 2015 in Istanbul's Gazi dis …

He also said it would be impossible to continue peace efforts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) amid continuing attacks inside Turkey.

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Ankara, which along with its Western allies considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, launched peace negotiations with the group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012 but the two sides have yet to reach an accord.

After the Suruc attack, Turkey bombed IS targets in Syria and also PKK positions in northern Iraq.

Kurdish groups say Turkish forces have targeted them in Syria as well but Ankara has denied the claims.

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Female PKK fighters who took up arms against Islamic State (IS) jihadist are pictured near Mosul, no …

Erdogan also said the creation of a safe zone in the north of war-torn Syria, free from IS, would help the return of many refugees.

"The clearance of those regions and the creation of a safe zone there will lay the ground for 1.7 million citizens here to return home," he said.

Turkey, the alliance's only Muslim member and one of its most powerful, called for the NATO meeting under Article 4 which allows for consultations when a country feels under threat.

The meeting comes a day after the United States and a previously reluctant Turkey agreed to work together to drive IS out of northern Syria.

A senior US official told AFP that Ankara and Washington aimed to establish an IS-free zone "and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey's border with Syria".

Details of the zone "remain to be worked out", the official said during a visit by US President Barack Obama to Ethiopia, adding that joint efforts would not include Turkey's demand for the imposition of a no-fly zone.

Turkey would support US "partners on the ground" already fighting IS jihadists, the official added.

Turkey has also given the United States the green light to use its Incirlik air base to attack IS after months of tough negotiations.

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's army said Tuesday it had liberated 30 hostages held by Boko Haram, including 21 children and seven women, amid ongoing offensives against the extremists in the country's northeast.

Army officials said the operation to free the captives took place in the town of Dikwa in Borno State, which had fallen to Boko Haram twice since April, and was recaptured by Nigerian troops last week.

"As a result of ongoing operations under the aegis of Operation Lafiya Dole to clear Dikwa and its environs from Boko Haram... (the) Nigerian Army yesterday rescued 30 persons from the hands of the terrorists," army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.

"They include 21 children and a six-day-old infant, seven women including three nursing mothers, and two elderly male adults," he said.

Dikwa is located around 90 kilometres (56 miles) east of Borno state capital Maiduguri.

Earlier Tuesday, 11 Boko Haram militants were killed in clashes with the military in a village in southern Borno state, a local resident and a member of the militia fighting alongside the army said.

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Nigerian President Buhari is set to visit Cameroon on Wednesday for the first time since he was swor …

Three militia fighters were also killed in the battle.

"On Monday afternoon around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT), Boko Haram gunmen on motorcycles attacked our village," said Markus Yohana, a local militia member fighting the Islamists in the village of Dille.

Yohana said that soldiers ambushed the raiders as they tried to flee, killing 11.

Another local, Bitrus Damina, confirmed the account.

"Soldiers went after them and killed 11 of them in the bush," Damina said.

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Nigeria's military spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade speaks during a media briefing in Abu …

Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks since Nigeria's new president Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in May.

The wave of violence has claimed 830 lives in just two months, dealing a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.

On Tuesday, Nigeria's military spokesman told AFP a new regional force tasked with fighting the jihadists will go into action soon.

The 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to be more effective than the current alliance in the battle to end Boko Haram's six-year insurgency that has claimed some 15,000 lives.

"Any moment‎ from now, the operations or the Task Force will be manifest. In other words, we may not tell you (when it will commence), you will just see it," Nigeria's military spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade told AFP, who declined to give further details for strategic reasons.

The force will have its headquarters in Chad's capital N'Djamena. A Chadian military source said offices had been set up in an army camp there for the new force's chief of staff.