Terrorists kill 17 protesting closure of Aleppo exit routes: Russia

Russia says foreign-backed terrorists have opened fire on Syrians protesting the closure of humanitarian corridor out of the battered city of Aleppo, killing 17 civilians and wounding over three dozen more.

According to Press TV, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said on Saturday that the incident took place in the terrorist-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday.

Some 500 Syrian people participated in demonstrations across the terrorist-blockaded areas of Aleppo with at least 200 of them trying to cross into Aleppo’s government-controlled western parts, but the terrorists clamped down on the protesters, Konashenkov said.

He noted that the terrorists sought to disperse the demonstrators by “shooting … from a heavy machine gun and then mined all the approaches to a checkpoint and placed snipers on the roofs of nearby houses,” Russia’s Sputnik news agency quoted the official as saying.

“Seventeen people died at the site, including two teenagers of 13 and 15 years of age, over 40 people were wounded,” he added.

Konashenkov also pointed out that the terrorists hunted for the presumed organizers of the rallies, arrested 10 and took all to an unknown location.

“They were all executed on the same day," he further went onto say.

Syria has been hit by deadly militancy it blames on some Western countries and their regional allies since March 2011.

ME