ANKARA, March 13 (Reuters) – An explosion was heard and windows were shaken overnight near the Incirlik military base in southern Turkey where U.S. troops and others are stationed, according to a Reuters witness and social media footage.
NATO air defences stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have in the last week intercepted two ballistic missiles fired from Iran towards Turkey amid the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.
NATO has since beefed up its ballistic missile defences in the region, deploying a U.S. Patriot air defence system to the southeastern Turkish province of Malatya to increase defence at a radar base there used by the alliance.
Social media footage appeared to show a projectile flying in the night sky near the Incirlik Air Base in Adana province.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said sirens were heard at the base early on Friday, without providing further details.
Ankara has not officially commented on the incident and it was not immediately clear what had caused the explosion.
Turkey has also not said where the previous missiles fired from Iran were aimed at, but U.S. air forces – along with personnel from other countries – are stationed at the Incirlik base.
Ankara says that Washington has not used Incirlik in its air assault with Israel against Iran, which triggered Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Ece Toksabay and Omer Berberoglu, Editing by William Maclean)
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