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SANA Says 265 Political Prisoners Freed

Syria has freed 265 detainees "involved" in the popular uprising against President Bashar Assad, "but who do not have blood on their hands," the state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

Releasing detainees is a requisite of the six-point peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan last month, as is the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on April 12 but has suffered violations ever since.

At least 4,000 prisoners have been freed since November, according to SANA.

The Annan peace plan also calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from urban areas, a daily humanitarian ceasefire, media access, an inclusive political process, and the right to demonstrate.

The state news agency also on Saturday said border guards had foiled an attempt by "an armed terrorist group" to infiltrate the border from Turkey.

An unspecified number of people were killed on both sides in the fighting that broke out near al-Allani village, in Idlib province, between the border guards and the "terrorists," SANA reported, a term it uses to refer to the rebels.

Source: Agence France Presse


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