Turkey: Student wounded in Syrian rocket attack dies

GAZIANTEP, Turkey

A 7th grader who was critically wounded when a rocket from Syria struck a school in southern Kilis province last Monday has died at hospital, according to medical sources.

Gulten Canpolat had been in intensive care unit for the past 11 days, an official at the Gaziantep University Sahinbey Hospital in nearby Gaziantep province said Friday.

The Jan. 18 blast in Eyup Gokce Imam Middle School had also killed a janitor, and wounded a teacher.

Kilis lies around five kilometers across the border from Daesh-controlled Syrian territory.

Kilis Governor Suleyman Tapsiz said at the time that the incident could not be deemed a terrorist attack, citing the escalating clashes between different groups on the other side of the Syrian border as the reason for the incident.

Following the attack, the launch site of the Katyusha rockets -- two of which landed on nearby wasteland -- were located by military radar and the army responded and neutralized the target.

Katyusha is a name applied to a range of rockets fired from multiple, vehicle-mounted tubes. The weapon has little guidance but can hit targets up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.

Turkish territory has often been hit by artillery fire as the Syrian civil war rages just a few kilometers to the south. Such incidents are usually answered with retaliatory fire from the Turkish army.

GAZIANTEP, Turkey

A 7th grader who was critically wounded when a rocket from Syria struck a school in southern Kilis province last Monday has died at hospital, according to medical sources.

Gulten Canpolat had been in intensive care unit for the past 11 days, an official at the Gaziantep University Sahinbey Hospital in nearby Gaziantep province said Friday.

The Jan. 18 blast in Eyup Gokce Imam Middle School had also killed a janitor, and wounded a teacher.

Kilis lies around five kilometers across the border from Daesh-controlled Syrian territory.

Following the attack, the launch site of the Katyusha rockets -- two of which landed on nearby wasteland -- were located by military radar and the army responded and neutralized the target.

Katyusha is a name applied to a range of rockets fired from multiple, vehicle-mounted tubes. The weapon has little guidance but can hit targets up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.