Turkey strikes targets inside Syria after mortar attack

  • 12 years ago
After a mortar fire from Syria struck a town in Turkey killing five people Wednesday ... the Turkish government announces that its military hit targets inside Syria.

(SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, BULENT ARINC, SAYING:

"There has been an attack on Turkey's mainland and its citizens lost their lives.There is definitely a response to it in international law. Turkey is a NATO member. Certain NATO treaty articles bring about certain liabilities when one of its members is attacked. We are not blinded by rage but we will protect our rights to the end in the face of such an attack on our soil that killed our people."

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was outraged by the attack.

(SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON SAYING:

"It's a very, very dangerous situation, and all responsible nations need to ban together to persuade the Assad regime to have cease fire, quit assaulting their own people and begin the process of a political transition."

The U.N. is urging the Syrian government to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors and warned that the country's conflict is increasingly harming other countries in the region.