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Turkey detains five Germans on aid mission to Syria

Chase WinterOctober 2, 2015

Turkish police have detained five German citizens and a Moroccan trying to cross the border into the Kurdish-controlled area of Syria. The six were on what they said was a humanitarian mission to Kobane.

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Kobane
The 'Islamic State' offensive last year left the border town of Kobane in ruinsImage: DW/Kamal Sheikho

Security forces apprehended the group allegedly trying to cross the border illegally. They were to be deported, DPA news agency reported on Friday, citing Turkish media.

The five Germans and Moroccan said they were trying to enter Kobane on Thursday evening as part of a humanitarian mission.

Kobane was largely destroyed when Syrian Kurdish forces defended the city during a six-month long siege by the so-called "Islamic State" in September 2014.

Kurdish fighters were able to fend off the siege and have since regained significant territory in northeast Syria with the support of US-led coalition air power.

The battle for Kobane forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to Turkey.

Reconstruction efforts have been hampered as the border remains closed except to the tens of thousands who have returned to a city in ruins to rebuild their lives.

Many from the city and surrounding countryside, including Ahyan Kurdi, have sought to make their way to Europe as part of a refugee crisis hitting the continent.

Kobane is one of three autonomous "cantons" the Syrian Kurds have carved out during the Syrian civil war.

Turkey is concerned the Kurdish fighters are tied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a separatist terrorist organization.