Turkey deploys fighter jets to reinforce base at southern border

Move comes amid mounting tensions with warring Syria

9 October 2012, 11:59 am Edit

Illustrative photo of an F-16. (photo credit: CC BY Ronnie Macdonald, Flickr)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish news agency says additional fighter jets have been sent to reinforce an air base in the country’s southeast amid escalating tensions with Syria.

The Dogan agency is quoting unidentified military sources as saying that at least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey’s Diyarbakir air base late Monday.

The Turkish military’s chief of staff inspected troops along the border with Syria on Tuesday.

Turkey and Syria have been firing artillery and mortars across their volatile border since last week after shelling from Syria killed five civilians.

The move is also seen as bolstering Turkish forces along the Iraqi border. Turkish jets struck Kurdish rebel targets in two separate cross-border raids in northern Iraq on Sunday despite warnings from Baghdad.

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