Turkish soldiers patrol on the Turkish-Syrian border near the town of Ceylanpinar on November 11, 2012. A man was killed and his three children wounded Friday in southeastern Turkey by a mortar shell fired from across the border with conflict-torn Syria, a newspaper reported. (AFP/File)
ANKARA (AFP) – A man was killed and his three children wounded Friday in southeastern Turkey by a mortar shell fired from across the border with conflict-torn Syria, a newspaper reported.
The 45-year-old was killed when a shell smashed into his garden in Ceylanpinar, a town directly across the border from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain which has seen fighting in recent days, the Hurriyet paper said on its website.
The latest incident brought to three the number of people killed on the Turkish side of the border as a result of clashes pitting rebels from the Free Syrian Army against Kurdish fighters loyal to the Democratic Union Party -- the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Kurds make up 10 percent of Syria's total population, with most living in the north of the embattled country.
Since the outbreak of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad more than two years ago, most Kurds have tried to ensure that their territory remained free of violence.
In mid-2012, Assad's forces withdrew from majority Kurdish areas, and Kurdish militia became responsible for security there.
Although many Kurds are hostile to a regime that has oppressed them for decades, they have also tried to keep the rebels out of the areas they control in order to avoid sparking a confrontation with the army.
Turkey is currently home to some 500,000 Syrian refugees.
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