Ankara - XINHUA
Turkey detained three soldiers for allegedly shooting a suspected smuggler on the Syrian border, local Today's Zaman reported Thursday. The Turkish soldiers found two suspected smugglers trying to load a car with sugar in the village of Inanli in the southern Kilis province on the Syrian border on Thursday, said the report. After repeatedly warning the smugglers to desist, the soldiers fired at the escaping vehicle, killing one while injuring the other on board. The military authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and have detained the soldiers who opened fired at the smugglers. Smugglers have been active for years on the Turkish-Syrian border amid the ongoing Syrian unrest. On Tuesday, Turkish troops destroyed a 500-meter-long pipeline used for smuggling oil into the southern province of Hatay near the Syrian border.