TURKISH ARMY RETURNS FIRE FROM AL-QAEDA-AFFILIATED FIGHTERS ON SYRIAN BORDER

The Turkish army announced Wednesday that it exchanged fire with militants from Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) that is linked to al-Qaida in the Kilis province on the border with Syria.

Turkish General Staff said in a statement that their troops fired four rounds at positions held by ISIS near the Syrian border town of Azaz after a mortar shell fired from the Syrian side landed near a Turkish border outpost.



Last month, ISIS seized Azaz, about five km from the border with Turkey, and it repeatedly clashed with the local rebels since then, said the report.

Recently, clashes between different groups of the Syrian rebels intensified near the Turkish-Syrian border, bringing Turkey to high alert about any spillover into its border cities.