ISTANBUL: Another 400 Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey to escape escalating fighting in Syria, state-run Anatolia new agency said on Saturday, raising the total to more than 24,500.
Anatolia said 396 refugees from Syria's Idlib province, one of the hotbeds of a 14-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, had entered Turkey's Hatay province and registered in the villages of Kavalcik, Kusakli and Bukulmez.
Four of the new arrivals were hospitalised with injuries, according to Anatolia.
Turkey has set up about 10 refugee camps for Syrians fleeing violence between rebels and Assad's security forces.
The number of Syrian refugees being assisted by the United Nations in four neighbouring countries has risen by a third in to 73,000 since April 12, the date of a ceasefire deal that has been widely violated by both sides.
The estimated number of internally displaced Syrians has more than doubled to 500,000 in the same period.
The United Nations will hold its third Syrian humanitarian forum on June 5 where UN officials, diplomats and aid agencies will discuss access for relief groups that Damascus has promised as part of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
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