Passengers led to safety as rebels launch rocket attack on Turkish airport

Suspected Kurdish militants have fired four rockets at Diyarbakir Airport in Turkey. Their target was a police checkpoint outside the VIP lounge but there were no reports of casualties as the rockets landed on wasteland nearby. Passengers and airport staff were taken inside the airport’s terminal building for their safety, Huseyin Aksoy, governor of Diyarbakir, where there is a large Kurdish population, said there was no disruption to flights. Meanwhile, 20 people have been killed as Turkey shelled Kurdish and Islamic State targets in Syria for a fifth day on Sunday.

At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Diyarbakir is home to a large Kurdish population, in a region where Kurdish militants have waged an insurgency for more than 30 years. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, which is also fighting the Kurdish-backed YPG militia in northern Syria. Sunday’s shelling follows last week’s successful Turkish-backed assault on the town of Jarabulus, which has been freed from Islamic State control. However, Turkey now wants to push back the Kurdish forces, which have declared an independent state in the region. One Turkish soldier was killed and three injured in fighting earlier this week.

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