Turkey let ISIL militants into Syria’s Kobani: Syria
Syria’s official news agency says Turkey has facilitated the re-entry of ISIL Takfiri militants into the Kurdish border town of Kobani where they detonated a car bomb.
“Earlier today (Thursday), ISIL terrorists infiltrated once again into Ain al-Arab city from Turkish side,” SANA said, using the Arabic name for Kobani.
ISIL militants began advancing into Kobani after detonating a car bomb near the border crossing, killing at least 12 people and injuring 70 others. Fierce clashes erupted between the ISIL militants and fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The ISIL militants managed to recapture some areas in Kobani.
ISIL militants were reported to have executed more than 20 Syrian Kurds, among them women and children, in a village south of Kobani.
The advance by ISIL came months after the terrorists were defeated by YPG forces in Kobani and surrounding areas. The terrorists were forced to withdraw from the strategic border town.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tanju Bilgiç, however, dismissed SANA’s report, saying Turkish hospitals have admitted more than 60 people wounded in the border clashes.
Another statement from the governor’s office of Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa said ISIL militants entered Kobani from the Syrian town of Jarablus.
A prominent pro-Kurdish politician in Turkey, meanwhile, also blamed Ankara for the ISIL massacre in Kobane.
Figen Yuk-sekdag, the co-leader of the Turkish People’s Democratic Party, said Thursday that the mass killing of civilians in Kobani is the result of years of the Turkish government’s support for ISIL terrorists, adding that there is a high probability that the Takfiris crossed Turkish border to enter the border town.
On June 16, the YPG seized control of Tel Abyad, another strategic town on the Turkish Syrian border. Tel Abyad was previously used as a key conduit for ISIL to transport weapons and fighters to and from Raqqa, the militants’ de facto capital in Syria.
Dozens of other villages have been recaptured by YPG in its push toward Raqqa, making Turkey more and more concerned about the growing influence of the Kurdish group close to its borders.
Turkey has also been one of the main supporters of the militancy against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with reports showing that Ankara actively trains and arms militants operating in Syria.
Recent documents published by the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet exposed direct contacts between Turkish intelligence service (MIT) and ISIL militants.
