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Syrian troops kill 20 al-Qaida fighters north of Damascus

13 November 2014 03:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 20 fighters of the al- Qaida-linked Nusra Front were killed and 30 others wounded Wednesday by the Syrian troops in a rugged region north of the capital Damascus, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The Syrian troops targeted the positions of the Nusra fighters in the Flaita area in the rugged al-Qalamoun region north of Damascus, said the report, adding that seven of those targeted were leaders of the militant group.

A day earlier, the Syrian troops killed 40 Nusra fighters in the central province of Hama.

Also in Hama, at least seven schoolchildren were killed Wednesday by a fresh mortar attack that hit a school in the predominantly Christian town of Mhardeh in the northern countryside of Hama, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Syrian troops have been on a crushing offensive against the positions of the Nusra Front in al-Qalamoun and Hama, as part of the government's pledge to keep on countering the terrorist groups nationwide.