Activists: Foreign journalists killed in Aleppo

DAMASCUS - Activists said a Japanese female journalist was severely injured while covering clashes in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on Monday as other media reports claimed the death of a Turkish journalist in the same battered region.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the injuring of the unnamed Japanese reporter in Slaiman al-Halabi neighborhood, adding that there are mixed reports that she might have already died of her wounds.

Meanwhile, Russia-Today news website quoted reports as saying that the Turkish reporter was also killed in Aleppo.

The identities of both reporters were not immediate known, and the report couldn't be independently verified due to the absence of official comments.

Activists reported heavy clashes in Aleppo Monday, a day after a notable cessation of fighting was observed in the conflict-torn area.

An activists' network, Local Coordination Committees, said that as many as 140 people were killed in the Monday's violence. Such claims, however, couldn't be checked independently.

The Syrian media said that the Saif al-Dawla district of Aleppo will soon be declared clean of armed insurgent groups.

Meanwhile, the state-run SANA news agency said the Syrian authorities continued to cleanse Saif al-Dawla of "terrorists" and inflicted heavy losses on them, adding that the army forces struck the logistic support lines from Turkey to the armed groups in the province.

SANA also reported the army forces clashed with the "terrorists " in al-Hatab Square in al-Jdaideh area in Aleppo, killing a number of them.