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In this March 27, 2014 photo, a traffic sign indicates Turkey ahead on the road while Syrian troops take journalists on a government-led tour in an area near the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Latakia, Syria.

ISTANBUL: Turkey on Tuesday said it has banned entry to more than five thousand foreign jihadists suspected of seeking to head to Syria to join radical groups fighting the Syrian regime.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was taking “all the measures” to stem the flow of jihadists from abroad, who were “using Turkey as a transit point” to enter war-torn Syria.

“We have banned entry to more than 5,300 people from abroad who were planning to join the radical groups in Syria. We are detaining suspected terrorists and deporting them. We have deported more than 824 people since 2012,” Erdogan said.

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