Activists say 8 Syrians killed trying to cross into Turkey

The Observatory estimated that the death toll would rise as some of the injured were in critical condition.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 60 people – all civilians – have been killed in fire by Turkish border guards, the Observatory said. It said numerous victims had recently fled the northern Isis-held town of Jarabulus.

Turkish military forces, in a joint operation with USA -led coalition airstrikes, killed 8 Daesh terrorists in northern Syria, military sources said in a statement.

But in its statement, the National Coalition expressed its “surprise and condemnation after this bad tragedy against our brothers fleeing the regime”.

Turkey, a major sponsor of groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has mostly closed its borders to Syrian refugees, but admits Syrians whose lives are under imminent threat. “Last night there was an attempt to cross the border illegally but no shots were fired directly on people”, one Turkish military source said.

Shooting has become the common method that Turkish border guards use to respond to Syrians crossing the border since the start of the conflict in March 2011.

Turkey also hosts some 2.7 million registered Syrian refugees, about 280,000 of whom live in camps.

It said that four of those killed were children, adding that eight people were wounded, some of them critically.

Under the deal, the 28-nation bloc will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from the country and in return will reward Ankara with money, visa exemption and progress in its European Union membership negotiations.

A Turkish official said Turkey was investigating the latest allegations of shootings but was “unable to independently verify the claims”.