Turkey responds to Syrian shelling

Turkish artillery fired towards Syria for a fifth day in a row yesterday, minutes after a Syrian shell landed on Turkish territory.

A journalist witnessed the shell landing some 200 metres inside Turkey, near the border town of Akcakale. A short time later, eight mortars could be heard fired from Turkey.

Town mayor Abdulhakim Ayhan confirmed that Turkish artillery immediately returned fire. He said shrapnel from the Syrian mortar caused some damage to a grain depot, but no one was hurt.

The Anadolu Agency reported that Syrian president Bashar Assad’s forces have been shelling the town of Tal Abyad, just across from Akcakale, which is controlled by Syrian rebels.

The Turks have been returning fire since Wednesday when Syrian shelling killed five civilians in a Turkish border town.

Turkey has vowed to retaliate against the shelling from Syria while Turkey’s parliament this week approved a bill thatwould allow cross border military operations there. The Pakistani military has blocked a convoy carrying thousands of Pakistanis and a small contingent of US anti-war activists from entering a lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan to stage a protest against US drone strikes.

The group, led by cricket star turned politician Imran Khan and his political party, was turned back just miles from the border of South Waziristan.

After an hour of fruitless negotiations, Mr Khan announced that the caravan would backtrack to the city of Tank, about nine miles away, where he was expected to make a speech to the crowd.

Mr Khan has harshly criticised the Pakistani government’s co- operation with Washington in the fight against Islamist militants.

He has suggested before that militant activity in Pakistan’s tribal areas will dissipate when theUS ends the war across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s tribal regions, such as North and South Wa z i r i s t a n , border Afghanistan and serve as bases for militant groups such as the Taliban.

Meanwhile, in London, the mother of a soldier who died in Afghanistan has demanded British troops be withdrawn from the country– onthe 11th anniversary of the start of the war.

Caroline Munday, whose son James died in a blast in Helmand in 2008, spoke at a protest against the war before delivering a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron.

She was among politicians and activists who gathered in Trafalgar Square to read out the names of some of the troops and Afghan civilians who have died since the start of the conflict.

Also at the protest were MPs Paul Flynn and Jeremy Corbyn, writer Victoria Britain, musicianBrianEno, aid workers and Afghans who have fled the country.

Imran Khan: turned back