Syrian security forces arrest five MKO terrorists: Report

Syrian troops celebrate clearing a neighborhood in Damascus of insurgents. (File photo)

Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:8PM GMT

Syrian government forces have reportedly arrested five members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) along with 35 other gunmen as they were trying to sneak across the border into the crisis-hit Arab state.

A Syrian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government forces arrested 40 terrorists on Monday as they attempted to enter Syria, Fars News Agency reported on Sunday.

The unnamed official added that five of the detainees were identified as MKO members following a full-scale investigation into the capture.

The detained MKO terrorists have confessed that the MKO is training insurgents on the Turkish soil near the border with Syria, while certain Arab and Western states are providing necessary support for their activities.

The report comes as Iraqi and Syrian security officials maintain that a large number of MKO members have entered Syria over the past few days.

The officials have also warned against MKO’s training of terrorists in Turkey as well as the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

Director of Iran's Habilian Association Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad had announced on May 28 that the MKO is preparing to launch a massive terrorist operation in Syria.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011, with many people, including large number of security forces, killed in the turmoil.

While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of the killings, Damascus blames outlaws, saboteurs and insurgents for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

Meanwhile Syrian security forces have arrested a group of foreign-sponsored insurgents..near the provincial capital city of Homs and the town of Quseir, about 38 kilometers (23 miles) south of Homs, on Sunday. Syrian army killed a senior leader of insurgents in the capital, Damascus, and several armed men in the northwestern city of Idlib and the southwestern city of Dara’a on Sunday.

Reports say the Syrian army has cleared the Ariha district in Idlib of the insurgents. Also on Sunday, similar clashes were reported in the northwestern city of Aleppo near the southwestern neighborhood of Salahuddin, which is under the army control. The Syrian troops forced the insurgents to withdraw from the neighborhood on August 9. Fighting was also reported in the central area of Hanano and the eastern neighborhood of Sha’ar.

 

The Syrian state TV said on Saturday a bomb attack was carried out in the Marja district in Damascus, followed by random shootings. No casualties were reported...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on August 1 that the country is engaged in a “crucial and heroic” battle that will determine the destiny of the nation.

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