Schoolgirl wounded in rocket fire from Syria in Turkey’s southeast dies

GAZİANTEP – Anadolu Agency

CİHAN photo

A girl who was wounded when a rocket projectile from Syria hit a schoolyard in the southeastern province of Kilis died on Jan. 29, 11 days after the incident.

Gülten Canpolat, who was studying at Eyüp Gökçe İmam Secondary School, lost her life in the Gaziantep University hospital’s intensive care unit.

Turkish military sources indicated the rocket projectiles were fired from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Syria. Ayşegül Polat, 32, who worked as a cleaner at the school, was immediately killed at the scene, while Canpolat was fatally wounded.

The army bombarded targets across the border in Syria hours after the incident. Radar had showed shots were fired into the border province of Kilis from ISIL outposts inside Syria. 

Kilis is on the edge of a roughly 100-km strip of Syrian border territory controlled by ISIL. Turkish towns in the region have frequently seen artillery fire spill over during Syria’s civil war, which is about to enter its sixth year.