Turkish army fires on armed smugglers on Syrian border

Turkish troops repelled four armed men on the border with Syria as they tried to enter Turkey illegally to smuggle goods, a military statement said Thursday.

The statement, by the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, said the troops spotted four smugglers on motorbikes approaching the Turkish border, who defied warnings in both Turkish and Arabic and fired on the Turkish border units near the ViranSehir town in the southern Turkish province of Sanliurfa.

The statement added that the army returned the fire and the smugglers escaped back to Syria.

Smugglers have been active for years on the Turkish-Syrian border, especially on the southern section, but the recent spike in their confrontation with the military as well as the large numbers of people involved in such incidents have put the Syrian border once again under the spotlight.