Foreign journalists hurt by artillery fire in Syria - Russian MoD

A group of foreign journalists came under artillery fire in Syria's northern province of Latakia with some of them wounded, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"The shells were fired from the Turkish border, the area of Dama, near Idlib," the TASS news agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying.

The group consisted of 33 journalists from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Russia and the United States, and was organized by the Russian Defense Ministry to visit the Latakia air base in Syria.

• Konashenkov said a total of eight artillery shells were fired and they crashed at distances ranging from 150 meters to 400 meters away from the journalists.

Several members of the group, including those from Bulgaria, Canada and China, suffered light bruises, and those hurt received first aid, he added.

• The Syrian army has blamed the attack on the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front organization, TASS said.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that in the last 24 hours the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria registered 15 violations of the cease-fire agreement.

"Russia's airspace force has carried out no attacks against areas controlled by 'moderate opposition' groups which had joined the peacemaking agreements and have been observing them," the statement said.

The cessation of hostilities, backed by Russia and the United States and agreed by a number of armed groups and the Syrian government, came into effect on Saturday.

The deal excludes the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, both of which are listed by the United Nations as terrorist groups.
 [Xinhua]
1/3/16
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