Shots fired at Dherynia

TWELVE shots were exchanged on the Green Line at Dherynia on Tuesday night, Unficyp confirmed yesterday.

Unficyp spokesman Charles Gaulkin told the Cyprus Mail that they had contacted the Turkish Cypriot authorities about the incident.

He quoted Turkish soldiers stationed on the line as saying there had been an exchange of fire between them and three unknown men at approximately 9.20pm.

The Turks told Unficyp the three men had been spotted north of the line, and that two were wearing black and the other grey.

The soldiers accused the men of firing on them first, Gaulkin added.

He said there was no indication that anyone had been hit in the exchange of fire.

Gaulkin said the three men then reportedly ran west and then south towards the free areas.

CyBC yesterday quoted a man living near the area as saying he had seen an ambulance and Turkish military activity following the incident.

Defence Minister Socrates Hasikos yesterday said the National Guard had not been involved in the incident in any way.

A Defence Ministry statement said that "from 21.20 until 21.30 on Tuesday, about eight to 10 shots were heard on the side of the Turkish occupied areas in the Dherynia area."

The statement said such shooting incidents involving Turkish sentries were "a common phenomenon," adding a similar episode had occurred on January 31 in the area of Kambos.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.