The events started as a "minor stone-and-stick clash" when Turkish authorities issued warnings to a large group of Syrians trying to cross the border without passports, said Abdulhakim Ayhan, mayor of the border town of Akcakale. Armed men in the group - including fighters for the Free Syrian Army (FSA), according to an opposition activist - then opened fire on the Turkish border guards.

Turkish media reported that two police officers, two soldiers and two civilians were injured. The opposition activist, a representative of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said two FSA fighters were also killed in the clash.

More than 300,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey over the course of the two-year civil war, most settling into camps along the 900-kilometer (560-mile) border. Turkish officials deny reports that the country has banned Syrians from crossing over, but some have also said it needs to regulate the flow of refugees.

mkg/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)