10 medical staffers killed in Syria

Govt holds rebels responsible for the act

Syria's health ministry said Tuesday that rebels have massacred 10 medical staffers in the northern countryside of the capital Damascus.

Five doctors, five nurses and two drivers have been massacred by the "armed terrorist groups" in the Deir Attieh town in the northern outskirts of Damascus, Xinhua reported citing the state-run SANA news agency and giving no other details.

The Al Qaeda-linked groups have recently infiltrated Deir Attieh after the army dislodged them from the adjacent town of Qara.

The army had laid a siege around the town in a bid to dislodge the entrenched rebels.