Initial Evidence in Killing Syrian Refugees Points to Turkish Border Guards

Initial evidence suggests that Turkish border guards were behind the shooting of several Syrian refugees on the Syrian-Turkish border, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, media reported on at least eight people had been shot dead by a Turkish border guard as they tried to escape from war-torn Syria to Turkey.

"We still have to establish the details, but it does look like a group of Syrian asylum seekers were indeed shot at by Turkish border guards," Gerry Simpson, a HRW expert, was quoted as saying by RT.

Footage showing the dead refugees was established to be from an area where the HRW has previously recorded violence against Syrian asylum seekers, Simpson added.

Since 2014, thousand of Syrians have been driven by the military conflict in their country to cross the Syrian-Turkish border. In May, the HWR accused Turkish security forces of shooting Syrian civilians trying to cross the border.