11 Syrian Refugees Reported Killed by Turkish Border Guards
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Version 0 of 1. ISTANBUL — Turkish border guards killed at least 11 Syrian refugees, including at least three children, who were trying to cross into Turkey illegally on Sunday, Syrian activists and a monitoring group said. The refugees were shot as they tried to enter Turkish territory near the border crossing of the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shoughour, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, monitoring group based in Britain, said in a statement on its website. Several other refugees were wounded, the group said. Jisr al-Shoughour has become a key smuggling route since Turkey closed its borders to Syrian refugees this year. A senior Turkish official said that the killings could not be independently verified and that an investigation was underway. Turkey, which is a host to nearly three million refugees, has denied similar previous allegations and maintains that it allows entry to refugees whose lives are under imminent threat. The monitoring group said nearly 60 civilians had been shot this year while trying to flee to Turkey from Syria. Last month, Human Rights Watch published a report accompanied by video that purported to show refugees being beaten up and shot at by Turkish border guards. On Sunday, Mohammad al-Abd, 35, a resident of the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz, rushed to the border crossing after hearing gunshots. “Locals from the village contacted Syrians on the Turkish side of the border to ask the Turkish border guards to stop shooting,” Mr. Abd said in a phone interview. “Almost an hour later, we were able to take the dead bodies and wounded to the hospital. Seven people were killed and five wounded, all from the same extended family.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two others had been killed in that shooting, though not from the same family. The family was fleeing Jarablus, a town controlled by the Islamic State militant group in the Aleppo countryside in northern Syria, and trying to join relatives in Turkey, Mr. Abd said. American-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State have intensified in recent weeks, sending hundreds of Syrian refugees to the Turkish border. Two other men were also killed on Sunday as they were trying to get into Turkey, Mr. Abd and local activists reported. A video reportedly taken in the aftermath of the shootings on Sunday, which was posted online by Syrian lawyers and rights groups, shows a mother cradling her baby, who appeared to have a bullet wound. Once the cameraman pronounces the baby dead, the woman breaks down screaming. The video could not be independently verified. Turkey, under pressure from the European Union to curb the flow of illegal migration into Europe, has cracked down on cross-border trafficking in recent months. However, Syrians from the border villages say that smuggling has not stopped and that people cross into Turkey almost every night. Rights groups have urged Turkey to reopen its borders to provide safe passage to Syrian asylum seekers fleeing war. |