TURKEY: Reports of five dead after Ras al-Ain bombing

Record ID: 276465

  • Title: TURKEY: Reports of five dead after Ras al-Ain bombing
  • Date: 12th November 2012
  • Summary: CEYLANPINAR, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 12, 2012) (REUTERS) WOUNDED SYRIAN BEING TAKEN OUT OF CAR AND BEING PLACED TO A STRETCHER MAN BEING STRETCHED INSIDE HOSPITAL AMBULANCE ARRIVING WOUNDED SYRIAN BEING WHEELED INTO THE HOSPITAL DISTRESSED RELATIVES AWAITING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE OF WOUNDED SYRIAN SAYING: "There are five bodies here from Ras al-Ain. We have brought them
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVADEOURBFA9R3VB9LKRLNEMKSVK
  • Story Text: Wounded Syrians were taken to hospital in the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar on Monday (November 12) after a Syrian fighter jet bombed the town of Ras al-Ain, metres from the Turkish frontier.
    A relative of one one of the wounded people told Reuters at least five people from the town of Ras al-Ain were killed in the bomb attack and dozens more were injured.
    "There are five bodies here from Ras al-Ain. We have brought them here to Ceylanpinar to bury them. We can't take them back, there is a war there. We will either have to keep them in the morgue or bury them here. There are five of them, I know four of them and there are about 24 injured," the man said.
    Security was tightened at the Turkish border after the helicopter attack. Riot police warned residents to evacuate the area.
    The bombing sent up huge plumes of black smoke and scores of Syrians ran from the town, scrambling under the wire border fence into Turkey.
    The Arab and Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain fell to the Free Syrian Army on Thursday (November 8) in fighting that sent 9,000 fleeing in a 24-hour period, one of a largest refugee influxes into Turkey of the 19-month civil war.
    More than 120,000 registered Syrian refugees are now sheltering in Turkish camps and tens of thousands of unregistered Syrians are living in Turkish border towns and villages.
    The latest influx caused alarm in Turkey, which is increasingly concerned about its ability to cope with such large refugee numbers and have pushed hard - so far without success - for a buffer zone to be set up inside Syria where refugees could be housed.
    Turkey has been bolstering security along its 910 km (560-mile) border with Syria and has been responding in kind to gunfire and mortar shells hitting its territory.
    Tensions between the two neighbours, once close allies, are high after Ankara turned against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year over his violent crackdown on anti-government protests.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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