Turkey Returns Fire at Syria in New Border Incident

Posted October 7th, 2012 at 10:00 am (UTC-5)
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Turkey launched retaliatory artillery fire at Syria for a fifth straight day Sunday after a new mortar round struck the southeastern Turkish border village of Akcakale, where five civilians were killed last week by a previous Syrian strike.

The Turkish NTV news channel reported that the shell landed in the yard of a public building. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the latest incident.

A rebel flag flew over a Syrian government army outpost near the Turkish border province of Hatay Sunday after anti-government fighters seized the building. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels took control of the area near the Syrian town of Khirbat al-Joz late Saturday after a 12-hour battle.

Also Sunday, Syrian troops pressed their offensive to retake rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, Homs, towns around the Syrian capital Damascus and southern villages on the border with Jordan.

The Britain-based Observatory said the latest violence followed a bloody day on Saturday in which 154 people – 47 civilians, 62 troops and 45 rebels – were killed nationwide. The group gathers its data from a network of activists, medics and lawyers on the ground in Syria.