Mortars Kill 15 Students at Damascus University

Mortar fire killed as many as 15 students at Syria's Damascus University Thursday.

The shells struck the school of architecture. State-run Syrian television blamed the attack on those it calls "terrorists," the government's word for the rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the bombing, but did not say who is responsible.

Meanwhile, Turkey denies reports that it deported up to 700 Syrian refugees after riots broke out in a camp near the Turkish-Syrian border Wednesday.

Syrians fought with Turkish soldiers when faulty electrical wiring set a tent on fire, injuring three refugees.


The camp hosts 35,000 Syrians.

U.N. officials say Turkey is spending hundreds of millions of dollars feeding, housing, and caring for the medical needs of about 300,000 refugees who have fled the fighting in Syria.

Also Thursday, a U.S. federal court charged a former U.S. soldier with fighting for the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq — one of a number of rebel groups battling the Syrian government. Eric Harroun is accused of carrying rocket-propelled grenades for the rebels. He faces life in prison if convicted. The United States has declared al-Qaida in Iraq a foreign terrorist organization.