VIDEO: Mortar shell hits house in Turkish border town, four wounded

ŞANLIURFA

DHA Photo

At least four people were wounded when a mortar shell fired from Syrian territories during clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish forces hit a house in a Turkish border town on Oct. 5.

The mortar shell exploded at around 1.20 p.m. after hitting the wall of the house in Şanlıurfa province’s Suruç district, only two kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border. 

Four people in the house were injured due to pieces of shrapnel and stone, and they were taken to the Suruç State Hospital.

The Turkish military hit the Syrian side of the border immediately with howitzers after the mortar bomb hit the house. Officials said they fired at the coordinates from where the mortar fire came, without consideration of who the shooters were.

Clashes have recently intensified in the Kurdish populated Syrian town of Kobane and rising smoke from the clashes can been seen from Suruç.

As a security precaution amid the intensifying fighting, authorities then ordered the evacuation of residents from two small border villages -- Küçükkendirli and Büyükkendirli.
       
They also ordered reporters to move back from the immediate vicinity of the border zone towards Suruç to ensure their safety.