A Turkish military armoured car started to follow Eso Salih Xillo (25) when he attempted to cross the border on his motorcycle after days of waiting at the intermediate area in the Tel Shair area of Kobane.

His vehicle had been there since the start of the attacks of ISIS on the town. The armoured car crashed into the motorcycle after following it for a while. Xillo fell off his motorcycle, hitting the ground. But the armoured car did not stop and crushed Xillo.

After the incident, Xillo was kept for half an hour at the scene and only then taken not by the ambulance that came to the scene, but by the vehicle that had crushed him. While the distance between the scene of the incident and Suruç takes only 15 minutes, it took two hours to reach the hospital in the armoured car. Xillo was in critical condition when he was brought to hospital.

Following the first medical procedures at the Suruç Hospital, Xillo was taken to Urfa hospital. He is reported to be suffering from broken bones in the leg and back, and remains conscious.

An eye witness of the incident, Celal Bozan from Kobane, said he saw everything when he came to the intermediate area to take a look at his vehicle kept there. Bozan said the soldiers crushed Xillo intentionally after he fell off his motorcycle. Bozan said: “There are many people staying in the intermediate area to protect their vehicles as the gangs often steal them. The soldiers do not give food to these people. I talked to Xillo on the phone before the incident. He wanted to cross the border to get some food. I saw it myself; the panzer first hit the motorcycle and then crushed Xillo intentionally when he was lying on the ground”.

Another person staying in the intermediate area with whom we talked on the phone, named Xamo, confirmed what Bozan said, adding that the soldiers intentionally crushed him while it was perfectly possible to catch and arrest him without harming him.