Stray bullet from Syria border unrest kills 16-year-old Turk

ISTANBUL

A 16-year-old Turk died yesterday after being hit in the head by a stray bullet from clashes across the border in war-torn Syria, hospital sources said, the second such death on the Turkish side this month.

Mehmet Gündüz died in hospital in the capital Ankara after being struck by gunfire on July 16 in the small southeastern town of Ceylanpinar, which lies across the border from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn.

A 17-year-old boy from the same Turkish town died on July 17, also after being shot by a stray bullet from the Syrian side, to the outrage of local residents already angered by a string of Turkish injuries from the spillover fighting in recent months.

The Ras al-Ayn violence continued on July 24, with rebels from the Free Syrian Army clashing with Kurdish fighters loyal to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).