Journalists injured in South Ossetia back in Turkey

Cameraman Guray Ervin and reporter Levent Ozturk from the private Kanalturk TV Channel were taken to a hospital in Istanbul.

Ervin was injured in his left shoulder while Ozturk was injured in his head. Their injuries were infected, but they are not in life-threatening condition.

"Together with two journalists from the NTV News Channel, we hired a vehicle and left for South Ossetia to cover the developments. We safely passed four checkpoints. When we came closer to Tshinvali, we heard the sound of a gunshot. I was driving the car. I saw that Levent was injured in his head. He was bleeding seriously.

"Some 10-15 soldiers sprayed our car with weapons for at least 4-5 minutes. I could not move the vehicle since the engine broke down. We shouted at the soldiers that we were journalists. We also took our t-shirts off and waved them out of windows. Some 4-5 minutes later, soldiers approached us.

"They took us out of the vehicle at gunpoint and sent us to a hospital in Tshinvali by ambulance," Ervin told Anatolian Agency.

Photo: Hasan Ornekoglu