Excerpt: "Turkey's military fired an artillery round into Syria on Sunday in immediate retaliation after a shell fired from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale."
Smoke rises after a shell hit Akcakale. (photo: Veli Gurgah/Anadolu/EPA)
07 October 12
urkey's military fired an artillery round into Syria on Sunday in immediate retaliation after a shell fired from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale.
The Syrian shell hit near a plant belonging to the Turkish grain board, several hundred metres from the centre of Akcakale, where five civilians were killed on Wednesday in previous Syrian shelling.
At least six mortars could be heard being fired from Turkey. It was the fifth day in a row that Turkey had returned fire. Abdulhakim Ayhan, the mayor of Akcakale, confirmed that Turkish artillery immediately returned fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the latest incident.
The strikes and counter-strikes are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's conflict, which began as a pro-democracy uprising but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones. They highlight how the crisis could destabilise the region.
Turkey, once an ally of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, but now a leading voice in calls for him to quit, has nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps on its territory and has allowed rebel leaders sanctuary. Its armed forces are far larger than Syria's.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Friday his country did not want war but warned Syria not to make a "fatal mistake" by testing its resolve. Damascus has said its fire hit Turkey accidentally.
Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian military targets on Wednesday and Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers after Syria's initial fatal bombardment.
