Turkish bus attacked in Syria, 2 wounded

Ankara's Foreign Ministry reports of two casualties in attack on pilgrims near Homs

Reuters|Published: 11.21.11 , 12:38

Two Turkish citizens were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Turkish buses carrying pilgrims in northern Syria, Turkish media reported on Monday.

Turkish NTV news channel said the driver of one of the three buses and a pilgrim were wounded in the attack at a checkpoint just across the Syrian border.

Private news agency Dogan showed images of a passenger bus with one of its side windows smashed, apparently from a gunshot, after it returned to the Turkish border town of Cizre.

Watch the attack on the bus

A Turkish foreign ministry official said he was aware of an incident and the ministry was trying to establish the details.

Passengers disembarking at Cizre told Dogan they had been told to get off the bus by up to eight uniformed Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint.

"They were hidden in their hideouts ... these were soldiers, these were not civilians, their flags were there," a male passenger in his thirties said.

One of the soldiers said "'come, come', he wanted to get me inside, I didn't go inside," the passenger said.

"I had nothing in my hands, there were seven or eight of them. He cocked his gun at me and said 'put your hands up' ... I shouted for everyone to run, we ran and they started firing at our backs. God saved us," he said.

"We have returned from death. We have returned from death," said another male middle-aged passenger, sobbing as he spoke.

It was not immediately clear when the incident happened, but it appeared to have taken place overnight, as Dogan's footage of the passengers back in Turkey was taken early on Monday morning.

The wounded were being treated in a hospital in Antakya, in Turkey's Hatay province just across the Turkish border, NTV reported.