ANKARA, December 26, 2012 (AFP)
More than 1,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey in the last 24 hours after the Syrian regime attacked a bakery in the town of Halfeya, a Turkish foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.
“1,100 Syrians, mostly women and children, fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours through a border crossing in the town of Reyhanli,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The latest influx triggered by the bakery attack in Syria has brought the total number of Syrians in Turkey to 148,000, he added.
At least 60 people are reported to have been killed in a regime air strike on a bakery in the rebel-held town of Halfaya, in the central province of Hama on Sunday.
Turkey is home to refugees fleeing the 21-month conflict in neighbouring Syria as well as army defectors who are sheltered in several camps along the 960-kilometre (560-mile) border.
Ankara fell out with its one-time ally after the regime unleashed a deadly crackdown on protests in March last year, and has joined in Arab and Western calls for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
