ANKARA, Turkey - The number of Syrian refugees who have reached Turkey in the past four days after fleeing advancing ISIS militants now totals 130,000 and could rise further, Turkey's deputy prime minister warned on Monday. "A refugee wave that can be expressed by hundreds of thousands is a possibility," said Numan Kurtulmus warned. The refugees have been flooding into Turkey since Thursday, escaping an offensive that has pushed the conflict nearly within eyeshot of the Turkish border. The conflict in Syria has pushed more than a million people over the border in the past three-and-a-half years.
The al Qaeda breakaway group has in recent days advanced into Kurdish regions of Syria that border Turkey. Fleeing refugees have reported atrocities that included stonings, beheadings and the torching of homes. "This is not a natural disaster... What we are faced with is a man-made disaster," Kurtulmus said. "An uncontrollable force at the other side of the border is attacking civilians."
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