Turkish security forces nabbed nine people, including five YPG/PKK terrorists, near the Syrian border, the National Defense Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said on Twitter that the suspects were detained in the Ceylanpınar and Kızıltepe districts of the southeastern Şanlıurfa and Mardin provinces while trying to illegally enter Turkey from Syria.

Over the course of its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The YPG, which is the Syrian arm of the PKK terrorist organization and backed by the U.S. under the pretext of fighting Daesh, previously received numerous condemnations by international human rights bodies, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International and the United Nations, for its human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, forced recruitment of child soldiers and the forced relocation of local people.