As many as several hundred more Syrians fled into Turkey on Thursday after Syrian government forces attacked a village on the Turkish border, according to opposition sources and Turkish press accounts, DPA reported.
Dozens of families, who had been hiding outside the village of Khirbat al-Joz in the expectation of an army attack, fled in panic across the Turkish border after hearing shots fired as the army descended upon their village, a Syrian opposition activist told the German Press Agency dpa.
The families were taken by the Turkish military in 20 buses to an army camp, from where they were to be taken to a refugee camp, the activist said.
Syrian soldiers as well as government militia, known as Shahiba, came to Khirbat al-Joz with a list of names and went from house to house destroying the homes of anti-government activists, the activist said, citing witness accounts.
The army then left the village in a dozen buses and headed in the direction of Jisr al-Shagour, the activist said.
A correspondent from Turkey's semi-official Anatolia Agency gave a parallel account, reporting that a military deployment was seen across the border from the Turkish village of Guvecci.
A Turkish flag that had been raised over a watchtower in the Syrian village was taken down by soldiers and replaced with a Syrian flag, according to the report.
In recent weeks more than 10,000 Syrians, fleeing a violent military crackdown on anti-government protesters, have crossed the border into Turkey, where they are staying in four tent cities operated by the Turkish Red Crescent.
At least 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 detained in Syria since protests calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad began in March, human rights groups say.
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