ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkish border guards have shot and killed a group Syrians trying to cross the border into Turkey in what a monitoring group has called a “massacre.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that eight were killed, including four women, three children, and one man, and another eight were injured “in a massacre carried out by Turkish border guards by opening fire on them as they tried to cross into the Turkish territory.” The group was trying to cross the border near the village of Khirbet al-Joz, east of Idlib. The Observatory estimated that the death toll would rise as some of the injured were in critical condition. Other activists and local media are reporting that 11 were killed in the incident. The Observatory notes that this is not the first time Syrians trying to cross the border have been shot and killed by Turkish border guards. It has documented the deaths of almost 60 civilians trying to flee Syria. Last month, Human Rights Watch reported that, during March and April, “Turkish border guards used violence against Syrian asylum seekers and smugglers, killing five people, including a child, and seriously injuring 14 others.” Turkish officials have denied the reports, declaring them “not true.” “Last night there was an attempt to cross the border illegally but no shots were fired directly on people,” read a statement from the Turkish military. “After warning shots, a group of seven to eight people ran towards the woods.” Turkey is hosting nearly 3 million Syrian refugees but has essentially closed its borders and is only letting select refugees, mainly those needed urgent medical care, enter the country.
