Dubai: Syrian soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish citizens, according to witnesses and officials speaking to the press. The attacks on the buses occurred near the central Syrian city of Homs.
One of the bus drivers, Erhan Surmeli, said he was taking 25 butchers back to Turkey from Saudi Arabia following Eid Al Adha.
"Syrian soldiers emerged from behind sandbags and cursed Erdogan when we told them we were Turks. Then they suddenly opened fire at the bus," Surmeli said.
The attacks, which wounded two people, appeared to be in retaliation for Turkey's mounting criticism of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, whose military crackdown on an eight-month-old uprising against his rule has killed nearly 4,000 people.
Turkey warned Syria's president yesterday that he cannot continue to oppress his people with tanks and guns forever.
"You can only continue with tanks and guns to a certain point, the day will come when you will go," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech at an international religious conference in Istanbul. "Sooner or later, the oppressed will win."
