At least five people were killed and a dozen injured when a shell landed on a house in the Turkish town of Akcakale, near the Syrian border, a local mayor and the semi-official Anadolu news agency said Wednesday.
The artillery shell was fired from the Syrian district of Tel Abayad, according to Anadolu. However, it is not yet clear what military force or group launched it.
The incident may worsen already tense relations between Turkey and neighboring Syria, which is wracked by an 18-month-long conflict.
Musa Ozer, who lives next to the house where the artillery shell landed, was crying as he spoke on the phone with CNN.
"The bomb fell on us. My head's really not in the right place right now," he said. "My uncle was injured and his wife died. What am I to make of this?"
Local neighborhood mayor Salih Aydogdu said those killed by the shell were three children, their mother and a neighbor.
"Over the last month we've had these types of incident five or six times. This is a small place; every time it happens, we can hear it. We are right on the border with Syria," he said.
"The people of Akcakale are upset. We want the governor and the police to take precautions. This was Turkey's most peaceful and tranquil area. Now we have neither peace nor tranquility."
For the past two weeks, schools have been closed in the town and the teachers have left, he added.
Akcakale Mayor Abdulhakim Ayhan also voiced the concern felt by residents of the southeastern town, in the province of Urfa.
"The people of Akcakale are rising up against this. They live in fear," he told CNN Turk.
The mayor said the shell that caused the deaths was the second to land Wednesday on Akcakale. He said a 6-year-old boy and a woman were among the dead.
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