Palestinian woman from Syria 'shot dead' near Turkish border

Raghad Abboud, an 18-year old Palestinian from Yarmouk refugee camp, is understood to have been shot dead by Turkish troops as she attempted to cross the Syrian border into Turkey earlier this week.

According to the Palestinian League of Human Rights in Syria, Raghad was shot while travelling with members of her family and a group of refugees from the Khirbet area in Idlib province, Syria.

The League also reported that Raghad's father was severely beaten by the troops.

According to a local Palestinian news agency, the troops had started arresting and beating refugees approaching the border, during which Raghad and her family ran away.

Refugees fleeing from Syria into Turkey in June [Anadolu]

Raghad's uncle, Maher Abboud, wrote on Facebook that the family had stopped running and her father had been attempting to persuade the troops to stop shooting when they shot Raghad in the head and the chest at close range.

Turkish troops at the border have previously been criticised for forcibly preventing Syrian and Kurdish refugees from entering.

Raghad had been living in Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp which has been under siege by Assad regime forces.

Tens of thousands of its residents have fled to Lebanon and Turkey in an attempt to escape the violence of the Syrian civil war and the humanitarian crisis in the camp.