Turkey's border row with Syria hots up

The latest spat marks a continuing deterioriation in relations which many fear could lead to war between the two countries.

Turkey has repeatedly fired into Syria over the past week in response to shelling that has hit towns on its territory.

The flight from Moscow to Damascus made an emergency landing after Turkey scrambled air force jets to escort it to the ground. Syria said Turkey's behaviour amounted to "piracy" and that there was nothing illegal on the plane.

But the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the pilot had been warned he would be forced to land as he approached Turkish air space over the Black Sea and that he was given a chance to turn back, which he ignored.

Newspapers and state TV said the plane's cargo had included 10 crates of "radio receivers, antennae and equipment thought to be missile parts." However, no sources for this information were cited.

After being grounded for hours the plane's cargo was removed and it was allowed to continue to Damascus - but Syria demanded that the cargo be sent on.

A Syrian Airlines engineer said "armed Turkish officials" had boarded the plane and handcuffed the crew before taking boxes of "electrical equipment." The country's Civil Aviation Agency said it would file a complaint with aviation authorities.

Russia also expressed anger at the grounding, which it said had endangered the passengers, 17 of whom were Russians.

A spokeswoman for Moscow Vnukovo airport, where the plane took off, said: "No objects whose transport would have been forbidden under aviation regulations were on board."

Western powers have repeatedly accused Russia of arming the Syrian state - which in turn accuses Turkey of funnelling arms to the rebels fighting to overthrow it.

Violence continued across the country today, with reports suggesting that the son of one MP and the brother of another were killed by rebels in raids on their homes.

Gunmen also opened fire on a bus near the Lebanese border, killing eight people and wounding another eight.

nSixty-nine trade unionists of the Kurdish Communities Union went on trial in Turkey today for alleged links to the banned Kurdish nationalist party PKK.