UN Says 43 Peacekeepers Captured In Golan Heights

Armored vehicles from the U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, also known as UNDOF wait to cross from the Israeli controlled Golan Heights to Syria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. In south... Armored vehicles from the U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, also known as UNDOF wait to cross from the Israeli controlled Golan Heights to Syria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. In southern Syria, government warplanes targeted rebels near the country's frontier with Israel in the Golan Heights, a day after opposition fighters captured a crossing point on the disputed border. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) MORE LESS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says 43 peacekeepers have been detained by an armed group in Syria during fighting and 81 other peacekeepers are trapped.

The office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the peacekeepers were detained early Thursday on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights during a “period of increased fighting between armed elements and the Syrian Arab Armed Forces.”

The statement says another 81 peacekeepers are “currently being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.”

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