Mortar shells hit Turkish border town, 3 hurt
Three mortar shells strike Suruc, just kilometers from fighting between Kurdish forces and ISIL for Syrian city.
SANLIURFA
At least three people were injured after a mortar shell fell on a house in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Sunday, according to Anadolu Agency reporters in the area.
A total of three mortar shells struck Suruc, which is just kilometers from the Syrian border. The two other shells landed in a vacant field.
The three people injured are currently being treated in Suruc State Hospital.
Turkish border security force artillery retaliated in kind. It is unclear who fired the initial mortar rounds.
The incident comes as clashes between Kurdish groups and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants intensified Sunday around the Kurdish-populated city of Kobani in Syria, just kilometers from the Turkish border.
Sounds of fighting from Kobani were heard in Suruc and smoke was seen rising from the Syrian city as more refugees arrived at the Syrian-Turkish border.
Recent ISIL attacks in Syria have increased the flow of the country’s refugees to Turkey.
Around 150,000 mainly Kurdish refugees have taken shelter in Turkey since the country opened its border on September 19.
Meanwhile, in Iraq around 30 ISIL militants were killed Sunday during separate operations against the organization in the country's north and east, local sources said.
Twenty militants were killed in the northern Iraqi city of Saladin, according to local police chief Major General Hamad an-Namis.
Another nine ISIL militants were killed and nine of their vehicles were destroyed since Saturday in Diyala, said Lieutenant General Abdulemir ez-Zadi, who is responsible for operations in the eastern Iraqi province.
“Operations will continue until the region is freed from ISIL,” claimed Zadi.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic ‘caliphate,’ killing thousands and displacing millions in the two countries.
It has posted graphic online videos of mass executions, as well as the beheadings of Western hostages.
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