Gunshots, explosions heard from Syria

Gunshots and explosions were heard Tuesday from the Syrian side of Turkey's border with the unrest-hit Arab country, where thousands of fleeing people have massed, an AFP reporter said. The shooting appeared to come from a hill overlooking the demarcation line at the frontier, about a kilometre (half a mile) from the Turkish border village of Guvecci, the reporter said. Late Sunday, two Syrians received bullet wounds in the border zone and were taken across the line to Turkish hospitals, according to Anatolia news agency. Thousands of Syrians fleeing a bloody crackdown on anti-regime protests have flocked to the border but hesitated to cross, gripped by uncertainty over their future on foreign land and wary to leave behind their property. They say they have received assurances from the Turkish authorities that they will be allowed to cross in the event of danger. Turkey is already sheltering more than 10,500 Syrian refugees in tent cities on its own territory. At the weekend, the Turkish Red Crescent began extending humanitarian aid to those camping on the other side, who have braved a squalid life in the open air or in makeshift shelters of branches and plastic sheets, surviving on scarce food and water.