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Turkish soldier shot dead on Syrian border

An attack on the Turkish Sanliurfa city leaves one soldier on border duty dead and two others injured
Turkish soldiers stand guard by the Turkish-Syria border in the southern Sanliurfa province (AFP)

A Turkish soldier has been killed and two others wounded in an armed attack on Turkey's border post with Syria late on Monday.

"The security forces on duty in Doruklu border post in the Ceylanpinar district of southeastern Sanliurfa province were shot at from an unknown place," Sanliurfa Governor Izzettin Kucuk told Anadolu Agency.

He added that the three soldiers wounded in the attack were transferred to the district hospital where one of them died despite all medical efforts.

The governor said he is doing all that is necessary to determine what happened in the incident.

Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict, which has spiraled into a civil war.

Now in its fourth year, the ongoing conflict in the Middle-East country has begun to present threats far beyond its borders.

The UN has stopped updating its death toll for the country after it reached 100,000 in July 2013 due to what it said were difficulties in verifying casualties.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the death toll at more than 162,000 people.

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