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Damascus (AFP) April 25, 2011 Troops entered Syria's flashpoint southern town of Daraa on Monday at the request of citizens to hunt "extremist terrorist groups," said a military official, who spoke of clashes and casualties on both sides. "In response to calls for help from the inhabitants of Daraa, who urged the armed forces to intervene and the killings and destruction by extremist terrorist groups, units entered Daraa this morning to restore calm and security," state television quoted a military official as saying. "The army is now pursuing these groups with the help of the security forces and has arrested several of them and seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition," a statement said. "As a result of the confrontations there were a number of martyrs in the ranks of the army and the security forces," it said, adding that an unspecified number of suspects were "killed and wounded." Witnesses said earlier that thousands of troops backed by tanks swooped on Daraa at dawn, killing at least 25 people in what one leading rights activist called a "military solution" to crush dissent. Damascus has repeatedly accused "armed gangs" of fuelling the unrest that has gripped the country, where pro-democracy protests broke out in mid-March. Some 390 people have been killed in security crackdowns since the protests erupted, rights activists and witnesses say.
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