At least 40 Syrian soldiers killed

Unidentified gunmen killed at least 40 Syrian soldiers and government employees in Iraq on Monday as they headed home after fleeing a Syrian rebel advance last week, Iraqi officials said. Around 65 Syrian soldiers and officials had handed themselves over to Iraqi authorities on Friday after rebels seized the Syrian side of the border crossing at the Syrian frontier town of Yaarabiya.
Iraqi authorities were taking them to another border crossing further south in Iraq's Sunni Muslim stronghold, Anbar province, when gunmen ambushed their convoy, a senior Iraqi official told Reuters. No group has claimed responsibility. "The incident took place in Akashat when the convoy carrying the Syrian soldiers and employees was on its way to the al-Waleed border crossing," a senior Iraqi official told Reuters. "Gunmen set up an ambush and killed 40 of them, plus some Iraqi soldiers who were protecting the convoy."