Algeria has banned Syrians from entering the country through its southern borders, hours after a rights group reported that 50 Syrians and Palestinians had been deported to neighbouring Niger last week.
Head of migrants policy at the Interior Ministry, Hassen Kacimi, said Syrians seeking refuge this way were suspected to be armed fighters.
Kacimi said around 100 people had reached the southern border with the help of local armed escorts in recent weeks but were intercepted and expelled shortly after they slipped into Algeria.
