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Five Killed As 'terrorists' Clash With Police
Damascus, 2 June (AKI) - Police opened fire Friday on a group of "terrorists" occupying some buildings near the state radio and telvision broadcasting centre in Damascus, killing four of the suspects, the official Syrian news agency, Sana, reported. A security guard was also killed in the morning clash in which two of the suspects were wounded, the report said. Police arrested four of the suspects and have started interogating them, it said without providing further details. Friday's gunfight follows a similar incident last week in the north-eastern city of Raqqa, when security forces opened fire on members allegedly belonging to a cell of the 'Jund ash-Sham' (Army of the Greater Syria), an extremist group consisting of nationals from Saudi Arabia, Yemen as well as Syrians. In March, Syrian authorities announced that security forces killed two "terrorists" in the town of Zabadani, close to the capital Damascus. ADDITIONAL: June 2, 2006, 1:18 PM (GMT+02:00) Interior ministry officials say at 4 gunmen and a security guard were killed and two each injured in a terrorist attack on Ummayad Square in central Damascus, site of the media compound, security installations, state institutions and hotels. They were identified as members of the Islamist Jund al-Sham, the operational arm of al Qaeda in Syria. DEBKAfile reports that the guards backed by Syrian troops battled the assailants for more than an hour. Forced back into the television station building, the terrorists continued shooting until Syrian reinforcements stormed the building, killing at least four and arresting the rest. Jund al-Sham has clashed with Syrian security forces before. In December, the groups caches of arms and explosives were uncovered in Damascus and a bomb-making factory in Aleppo. Posted by: Steve 2006-06-02 |
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