Syria bombarded Wednesday the Turkish border town of Akcakale, killing five people and wounding at least 13 others.
Syria bombarded Wednesday the Turkish border town of Akcakale, killing five people and wounding at least 13 others.
“Five people, including a mother and her three children, were killed. We also have nine wounded," said Abdulhakim Ayhan, mayor of Akcakale, where the shells that were fired from the Syrian town of Tall Al-Abyad exploded.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay instantly stated that the incident “was very serious and going too far, as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu contacted UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the UN's Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and expressed his “deepest concern” over the incident.
Davutolgu cleared his schedule and chaired an emergency meeting at the foreign ministry to deal with the incident, his office’s statement added.
For his part, Ban encouraged Davutoglu to "keep open all channels of communication with the Syrian authorities with a view to lessening any tension that could build up as a result of the incident.”
The UN Secretary-General urged Damascus to “respect the territorial sovereignty of its neighbors”, as his spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement that “the secretary general has repeatedly warned that the ongoing militarization of the conflict in Syria is leading to tragic results for the Syrian people.”
“Today's incidents... again demonstrated how Syria's conflict is threatening not only the security of the Syrian people but increasingly causing harm to its neighbors," he added.
Moreover, Turkey responded to the Syrian step, which came one day after fire shot on Syria from the Turkish territories killed two people, by hitting Syrian army positions across from the town of Akcakale, AFP quoted one source as saying.
In parallel, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his country bombarded targets in the Syrian territories in response to the attack.
He added in a statement that “This attack required an instance response from our armed forces that shelled targets in the border line,” stressing that his country will not leave the Syrian side without a punishment.”
The United States condemned Syria on Wednesday for what it referred to as the "depraved" shelling of the Turkish border town, stating that “this is yet another example of the depraved behavior of the Syrian regime, and why it must go."
Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement that “we regret the loss of life in Turkey, a strong ally, and continue to monitor the situation closely."
In contrast, Syria announced that it was looking into the origin of the deadly cross-border shelling, according to Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi.
“The concerned parties are currently studying the origin of the fire against Turkey," Zoabi said in a statement reported by state television.
“Syria offers it sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to our friends the Turkish people," he added.
"The Syrian-Turkish border is long, and Syria asks for cooperation in controlling the border," Zoabi further pointed out, indicating that “there are armed terrorist groups who constitute a danger not only to Syrian national security, but also to regional security.”
“We call for the border to be controlled, and for terrorists to be prevented from crossing,” he concluded.
