A mortal bomb was fired from Syria and fell to a border town of Turkey's Akacakale district,killing five Turkish civilians and injuring ten. In respond to the attack, Turkish Armed forces firedartillery shells on several targets in the Syrian territory.

Turkey was the first country to launch an attack against Syria since uprising against the reign ofPresident Bashar al-Assad 18 months ago. The strike itself has increased the tension betweenthe two countries significantly, ever since a Turkish fighter aircraft was shot down by Syrianarmy in June. At the same time, the Syrian government failed to put an end to the civil war thathas spread throughout the whole country, as rebels and Syrian security forces continued tofight in several major cities, such as Aleppo and Damascus.

Both the NATO and U.S. condemned the attack on Turkey which claimed the lives of twowomen and three children. An urgent meeting was called by NATO and the 28-nation alliancelater released a statement declaring that it stood by Turkey and demanded an immediate endto the "aggressive acts against an ally." Moreover, NATO "urged the Syrian regime to put anend to flagrant violations of the international law."

According to figures provided by activists, more than 30000 Syrians have been killed in the pastyear since the large scale protests and uprisings against the current Syrian regime. On the sameday, three suicide car bombs and a mortar attack have been reported in Aleppo, killing at least40 people.