More 435 wanted, gunmen turned themselves in to competent authorities

DAMASCUS Countryside,(ST)_ More than 254 gunmen and wanted persons from Madaya town in Rural Damascus who were involved in the current events turned themselves yesterday to the competent authorities to regularize their status.

According to a source at Damascus countryside police headquarters, status of 254 insurgents and wanted persons from Madaya was regularized, at the efforts of the national reconciliation committees after they pledged not to undertake any action that would prejudice the safety and security of the homeland.

Other 181 wanted persons in Damascus and its countryside surrendered themselves to the competent authorities to regularize their status.

On Friday, some 180 insurgents from Bassima town in Barada valley surrendered with their weapons to competent authorities, thereby number of surrendered persons reached 801 during this month, August, from Madaya, Zabadani, Bassima,Kanaker and Beit Sahm towns.

In last June, 99 gunmen from Babila and al-Kesweh areas surrendered themselves and their weapons in to the competent authorities while the number of militants who surrendered in May of this year reached 84 from al-Tel, Maloula, Jabaadin and Zakia, al-Teiba,Almqilbah and Ein Beida towns. In April, number of surrendered persons reached 310, but the figure exceeded 500 during March, in a continuously repeated process in the towns and villages of rural Damascus.

T. Fateh