Four Lebanese Pilgrims Abducted in Syria Reportedly Killed in Aazaz Airstrike

Four of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria in May have been killed in an airstrike on the Aazaz region in Aleppo, reported al-Jadeed television on Thursday.

It said that the building where the pilgrims were being held was damaged during a MiG-29 fighter jet strike.

The remaining seven pilgrims were also wounded in the strike, reported LBCI television.

They have since been taken to hospital on the Turkish side of the border with Syria.

One of the kidnappers, Abu Ibrahim was also critically wounded in the attack, said al-Jadeed.

Mohammed Nour, a member of Abu Ibrahim's media office, told LBCI that the kidnapper was only slightly injured in the attack.

He later told LBCI that "seven of the 11 Lebanese abductees are in good health and four of them are unaccounted for."

Meanwhile, the head of al-Meqdad family association told LBCI that "the 11 Lebanese pilgrims and their kidnapper Abu Ibrahim have been killed in the Aazaz airstrike."

But al-Manar television quoted Turkish sources as saying that "the Lebanese abductees are all in good health and some of them have arrived in Turkey."

Later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Miqati met in Mecca with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in the presence of Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

According to Miqati's office, discussions tackled the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria and the Turkish efforts to release them as well as the abduction of a Turkish citizen in Lebanon.

"During the meeting, the Turkish president stressed that his country is doing everything in its capacity to unveil the fate of the Lebanese abductees and that it was not behind their abduction," Miqati's office said.

For his part, Miqati voiced his regret over the abduction of a Turkish citizen in Lebanon and asked Turkey to help unveil the fate of the Lebanese hostages.

Miqati earlier held phone talks with President Michel Suleiman, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji and the chiefs of the security agencies.

The premier urged Lebanese citizens to "exercise restraint and show awareness amid these difficult circumstances Lebanon is witnessing."

"The kidnappings that took place in Beirut today are rejected and do not represent the appropriate method to address the abduction of any Lebanese citizen in Syria, but rather take us back to the episodes of the painful war that the Lebanese have decided to turn its page," Miqati added.

The officials are currently in Saudi Arabia to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "more than 20 people were killed in an airstrike in Aazaz town" near the main northern city of Aleppo.

Witnesses told Agence France Presse at the scene that least five bodies had been pulled from the rubble of about 10 houses flattened in the attack on the town of Aazaz, while many more were still trapped.

Aazaz lies just to the north of Syria's second city of Aleppo near the border with Turkey and is often used as rear base by Free Syrian Army fighters.

"This was a civilian area. All these houses were packed with women and children sleeping during the fast," said witness Abu Omar, a civil engineer in his 50s.

"Only dogs can do something like this. Israel wouldn't do such a thing in a war," he told AFP.

The Britain-based Observatory said that the strike was by a MiG fighter jet and targeted a former Baath Party headquarters which had been taken over by rebel groups.

"The whole of the area was flattened," the Observatory’s chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. "Those killed included civilians and fighters, but what is clear is that there was a Free Syrian Army base there."

Abdel Rahman said that among those wounded were four of the 11 pilgrims.

An AFP correspondent said dozens of people, many wailing and shouting, were climbing over the rubble, trying to pull out victims.

Meanwhile, the families of the 11 pilgrims called on everyone not to head to the airport road and held the Lebanese state responsible for what happened, reported LBCI.

They also voiced their rejection of the presence in Lebanon of the ambassadors of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria, saying none of them had acted to resolve their case.

Later on Wednesday, angry protesters and relatives of the abductees blocked the Beirut airport road in both directions.

The National News Agency said a Beirut-bound Air France plane with 174 passengers on board was diverted to Amman due to the blocking of the road.

The pilgrims were kidnapped in May as they were returning by land from a pilgrimage in Iran.

They were abducted in the Aleppo region in Syria.