Deadly ambush kills 120 Syrian police

Syria’s state television reports that 120 policemen have been killed in a gunfight in the north of the country. Officials claim security personnel came under attack by armed gangs in a town near the Turkish border.

A Syrian government spokesman admitted the country's military had intermittently lost control of areas around the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, Associated Press reports.On Monday Syrian TV reported that armed groups in Jisr al-Shughour had attacked a security post and set fire to government buildings.Soon after this report, Syria's interior minister Ibrahim Shaar stated that they would deal strongly and “decisively” with armed attacks on security forces and “would not be silent” regarding attacks against the state.The Syrian information minister, Adnan Mahmoud, said the attack began at dawn and that men armed with grenades and automatic weapons were periodically in control of some areas around the town of Jisr al-Shughour, according to Associated Press.The confrontations occurred in the town of Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib province, where government forces are trying to quell the months-long protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.