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Foreign doctors, medical students cross into Syria to help IS: Turkish lawmaker

Xinhua, March 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Eleven foreign doctors and medical students crossed into Syria via Turkey last week to help treat Islamic State (IS) militants, private Dogan News Agency reported on Sunday.

The eight doctors and three medical students, aging from 20 to 25, all are of Sudanese origin. Seven of them are British citizens, one U.S. and one Canadian, according to Turkish lawmaker Mehmet Ali Ediboglu.

Ten of them arrived at Istanbul Ataturk Airport on March 12 by Turkish Airlines, and the other one flew to Turkey from Toronto, Canada, the same day.

Ediboglu said their families had come to Turkey and urged British and Sudanese consulates in Istanbul to prevent their children from reaching Syria.

British woman Jalila Nadra H., 22, was detained in Ankara on Tuesday on suspicion of trying to cross into Syria to join the IS militants. She was deported from Turkey to Britain on Thursday, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Earlier last week, three British teenagers who were suspected of planning to join the IS were also detained in Istanbul and deported from Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that some 1,175 foreign fighters had been deported from Turkey. Endit