IS video purportedly shows two Turkish soldiers burned alive

Turkey blocked access to social media websites for several hours on Thursday, after the Islamic State (IS) group released a video purporting to show two captured Turkish soldiers being burned alive.

The video, showing two uniformed men being hauled from a cage before being bound and torched, was posted on militant websites.

The websites appeared to be back to normal on Friday, AP reported. Turkey frequently restricts access to social media websites to prevent the spread of graphic images and other material authorities say would harm public order or security. 

In March 2014, the government blocked Twitter and YouTube after they were used to spread a torrent of audio recordings implicating Erdogan - then premier - and his inner circle in an alleged corruption scandal. 

In September 2014, Turkey's parliament approved legislation to tighten the government's control over the internet by allowing it to block websites without prior judicial authorisation, sparking outrage both at home and abroad.

The video

The 19-minute footage was purportedly shot in the IS-declared "Aleppo Province" in northern Syria.

Speaking in Turkish, the killer of the two men verbally attacks Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calls for "destruction to be sowed" in Turkey.

The shock images recall the killing of Maaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot who was captured by the militants when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014, and was later burned alive in a cage.

The IS-linked news agency Amaq said last month that the group had kidnapped two Turkish soldiers, and the Turkish army separately said it had lost contact with two of its men.

The video's release came a day after 16 Turkish soldiers were killed by IS militants, in Ankara's biggest loss so far in its incursion into Syria.

They were killed in a succession of attacks around the Syrian town of al-Bab on Wednesday that included three suicide car bombings.

Turkish troops entered Syria on 24 August in support of pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, with the aim of ousting IS as well as Kurdish militia from the border area.

At least 38 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the operation, which the Turkish government has dubbed Euphrates Shield.

The biggest losses have occurred at al-Bab, an IS stronghold.

In his latest audio message IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for attacks in Turkey.

"Turkey today entered your range of action and the aim of your jihad ... invade it and turn its safety into fear," he told his followers in the message, released in November.

Turkey has been hit at home by the bloodiest attacks in its modern history, which it blames on IS and Kurdish militants.

The government is also carrying out a wide-ranging crackdown following an attempted coup in July, which it says was orchestrated by the group of an exiled cleric, Fethullah Gulen.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.