3 Syrian police killed in Daraa attack

By Mehmet Mesto

ISTANBUL (AA) - Three Syrian regime policemen were killed and two others wounded on Thursday in an attack targeting their patrol in the southwestern governorate of Daraa, according to the regime's news agency, SANA.

"An armed group attacked a police patrol with light weapons, followed by the explosion of an explosive device, killing 3 members and wounding others," reported the news agency on the attack in Daraa's eastern countryside.

In a separate report earlier this month, the agency had reported that an explosion had occurred in the town of al-Yadouda, northwest of Daraa city, causing the injury of "several civilians."

According to the local opposition network, the Daraa Martyrs Documentation Office, the governorate has so far witnessed more than 1,000 assassinations of regime soldiers, in addition to media personnel.

Since the regime took control in 2018, Daraa has been in a state of lawlessness and has experienced repeated attacks on regime forces and its checkpoints, carried out by unidentified gunmen.

Daraa, from which demonstrations erupted in 2011, was handed over to the regime after an agreement imposed by Russia on the opposition factions in the city that saw hundreds of opposition members leave the area.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report.