TURKEY: Turkey strikes back at Syria and beefs up border security after a mortar fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians

Record ID: 281417

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkey strikes back at Syria and beefs up border security after a mortar fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians
  • Date: 5th October 2012
  • Summary: AKCAKALE, TURKEY (OCTOBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AKCAKALE BORDER GATE, TURKISH FLAG FLYING VARIOUS OF SYRIAN REFUGEES CROSSING INTO TURKEY / BARBED WIRE IN BACKGROUND TURKISH-SYRIAN FLAGS FLYING ON BORDER TEL ABYAD, SYRIA (AS SEEN FROM TURKEY) (OCTOBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) BORDER COMPOUND AKCAKALE, TURKEY (OCTOBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TURKISH MILITARY
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2U3AKX9PFS0M1KLA6NCOZK3
  • Story Text: Turkish artillery hit targets near Syria's Tel Abyad border town for a second day on Thursday (October 4), killing several Syrian soldiers according to activists and security sources, after a mortar bomb fired from the area killed five Turkish civilians.
    Turkey's military said the strikes targeted the Tel Abyad district around 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) inside the Syrian border, where the mortar which killed five Turkish civilians was fired from.
    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several Syrian soldiers were killed in the Turkish bombardment of a military post near the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, a few miles across the frontier from Akcakale. It did not say how many soldiers died.
    Turkish military vehicles and soldiers were patrolling the Turkish side of Syria's Tel Abyad border early on Thursday.
    Armoured military vehicles were positioned along the border as Syrian refugees crossed into Turkey through barbed wire.
    Some residents of Akcakale abandoned their homes close to the border and spent the night on the streets. Others gathered outside the local mayor's office, afraid to return to their homes as the dull thud of distant artillery fire rumbled across the town.
    "We are scared to death because we cannot figure out when and where another mortar bomb will be fired. Therefore, we can be targets ourselves and we are really intimidated by these developments," one of the residents, Isa Colak, said.
    Turkey's government said "aggressive action" against its territory by Syria's military had become a serious threat to its national security and sought parliamentary approval for the deployment of Turkish troops beyond its borders.
    Turkey referred to Wednesday's (October 3) mortar attack as "the last straw".
    NATO said it stood by member-nation Turkey and urged Syria to put an end to "flagrant violations of international law."
    The U.S.-led Western military alliance held an urgent late night meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the matter and in New York, Turkey asked the U.N. Security Council to take the "necessary action" to stop Syrian aggression.
    U.N. diplomats said Security Council members hoped it would issue a non-binding statement on Thursday that would condemn the mortar attack "in the strongest terms" and demand an end to violations of Turkey's territorial sovereignty.
    Members had hoped to issue the statement on Wednesday, but Russia - a staunch ally of Syria's, which along with China has vetoed three U.N. resolutions condemning President Bashar al-Assad's government - asked for a delay, diplomats said.
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