Suruc, Turkey: The father of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in an image that shocked the world returned to his hometown Kobane on Friday to bury his family, an AFP photographer reported.

Abdullah Kurdi arrived at the Turkish border town of Suruc with the funeral caskets of his son, wife and another son who also drowned while trying to get to Europe.

The car carrying the father and the caskets entered Kobane and returned to Turkey while a convoy of journalists and activists was stopped at the border.

Twelve Syrian migrants drowned on Wednesday when two boats sank in Turkish waters as they were heading towards the Greek island of Kos, in the latest tragedy to hit migrants in the Aegean.

But attention has focused on three-year-old Aylan, whose tiny body was photographed washed up on a beach in the resort of Bodrum in an image that quickly became a viral symbol of the tragedy of refugees.

An AFP journalist on the Syrian side of the border said that preparations were under way to bury the Kurdi family members as ‘martyrs of Kobane who lost their lives to flee the war.’