AKCAKALE, Turkey — Thousands of Syrians have cut through a border fence and crossed over into Turkey, fleeing fighting in northern Syria between Kurdish fighters and jihadis.
The refugees took by surprise the Turkish troops stationed there, who were overwhelmed by the large number of people crowding the crossing.
Some 13,000 refugees have already crossed into Turkey in the last 10 days, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Thousands more had been gathering for more than a day on the Syrian side of the Akcakale border crossing before they broke through Sunday afternoon.
Turkish troops later brought in reinforcements and gathered up the refugees on the Turkish side of the border, preventing them from going deeper into Turkey.
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