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Syrian authorities thwart gunmen infiltration from neighboring Turkey

02 April 2012 22:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Syrian authorities on Monday foiled an infiltration attempt by an "armed terrorist group" from the Turkish territories into Syria, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The government troops clashed with the infiltrators near Khirbet al-Jouz border village in the countryside of northern Idlib province, killing one of them as others have managed to flee back to Turkey, said SANA, adding that the fleeing gunmen opened fire from Guvecci town in Turkey, 500 meters from the Syrian- Turkish borders.

Quoting a source in Idlib, SANA said the authorities found different kinds of weapons left by the gunmen, including 1,500 electric detonators for explosive charges.

Many sneaking attempts from Turkey and Lebanon have been foiled by the Syrian competent authorities during the year-long crisis.

In Lebanon, a military court on Monday indicted six Syrian nationals and three Lebanese for arms trafficking and smuggling to Syria. However, only four Syrians and two Lebanese among the indicted are in custody while three others remain at large.

The Lebanese army had arrested the culprits who were driving two trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition ready to be smuggled into Syria.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three civilians, five rebels and one army personnel were killed in clashes in Idlib earlier in the day.

Another opposition group, Local Coordination Committees (LCC), said 14 people were killed in Idlib on Monday. It put the overall toll of Monday’s casualties as many as 65. The opposition report couldn’t be independently verified.

Meanwhile, SANA said a total of 103 wanted people turned themselves in at the Madaya suburb of the capital Damascus Monday.

The Syrian government blames the year-long crisis in Syria on armed groups working out a foreign conspiracy.

Syria’s ambassador at the United Nations, Bashar Jae’farri, said recently that more than 6,000 Syrians were killed by armed groups, which he also said more than 1,500 others have been kidnapped since the start of unrest in Syria in mid March 2011.

He added that the deaths include 204 women and 56 children, 478 policemen, 2,088 army personnel and security agents.

The United Nations said last week the number of people killed since the unrest began in March last year has exceeded 9,000.