ANKARA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Syria traded Monday fresh artillery fire for the sixth consecutive day as tensions along the two country's border area mounted to risky escalation of conflict in the region, an official statement said.
A Syrian mortar shell landed at a vacant area, 2 km south of Hacipasa hamlet of Altinozu town in Turkey's southern province of Hatay at 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Monday and was retaliated immediately by Turkish border forces, said the statement issued by Hatay Governor's Office.
The statement said that there were no casualties in the attack and the area where the mortar shell hit was not a settlement area.
Turkey responded after Syrian artillery shells landed on southeastern town of Akcakale on Oct. 3, killing 5 civilians and wounding 10 others.
The Turkish government said Wednesday in a statement that " Targets in Syria, which were detected by radar, were shot by shelling."
"Turkey will never remain unresponsive against these sorts of provocations of Syrian regime within the framework of rules of engagement and international law," the statement said.
In an emergency session on Thursday, the Turkish parliament approved a motion for cross-border military operations inside Syria.
Ankara has been complaining about the spillover of Syrian artillery shelling and gunfire into its territory, and has last week said it would act if mortar strikes were repeated from Syria.
Turkey, once an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but now a leading voice urging his ouster, shelters over 90,000 Syrian refugees and has reportedly provided Syrian rebel army leaders with sanctuary.
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