SANLIURFA, Turkey
At least seven mortar shells landed in Turkey’s southern Sanliurfa province Saturday during an intense battle between two militant groups in the Syrian town of Kobani.
According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent near the Turkish-Syrian border, the shells landed inside the Turkish territory when the battle for Kobani waged on between the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or the PYD, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or the ISIL.
The explosions from the shells were heard in Sanliurfa’s Suruc district.
Meanwhile, the ISIL reportedly also carried out a suicide car bomb attack in central Kobani Saturday.
The U.S.-led coalition forces also continued to carry out airstrikes on the ISIL targets in Kobani.
More than 180,000 Syrian Kurd refugees from Kobani have crossed into Turkey since Ankara opened its border crossing on September 19 after the ISIL militants besieged the Syrian town.
The Iraqi army has been engaged in battles with ISIL militants since the extremist group took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in mid-June, in addition to other large swathes of the country.
According to the U.N., at least 24,015 civilians have been killed or injured in Iraq during the first eight months of 2014.
www.aa.com.tr/en
