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ANKARA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. citizen has been detained for trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria, the governor of the southern province of Hatay was quoted by Anadolu Agency on Monday.
U.S. Journalist Snell Lindsteyler who was detained in Hatay's Altinozu district near the Syrian border, was taken into custody on the grounds that she crossed Syria illegally from Turkey and then tried to re-enter Turkey, Governor Ercan Topaca said .
He said U.S. helicopters were seen flying over the border to pick up the journalist before she was detained by Turkish authorities.
Meanwhile, a female intelligence agent from the United States has been rescued by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) soldiers after a two-day operation on the Syrian border, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported on Sunday.
Drones and helicopters participated in the operation to rescue the agent, who had been wounded in Syria.
Two U.S. helicopters landed in a village in the Yayladagi district of the southern province of Hatay on Friday, prompting locals to call officials and report the landing.
According to the daily, the U.S. agent, whose name was not revealed as she was on a confidential operation, was assigned to a task in Syria and wounded on Aug. 3, after which she called for evacuation.
She was initially told to approach the Turkish border, as U.S. officials contacted the Turkish General Staff to coordinate throughout the rescue operation.
U.S. officials asked for permission to fly high-definition cameras and two drones carrying "Hellfire" rockets as a precaution against possible Syrian troops in the region near the agent and the Turkish army immediately gave permission.
Two U.S. drones scanned the area for two days, as two U.S. helicopters were on standby on the Turkish side of the border. However, the agent and U.S. officials were unable to meet, despite all efforts, according to the report.
As the search was ongoing, Turkish border soldiers noticed mobility in the region. The soldiers then realized that there was a person near the border and gave a warning, prompting a wounded woman, who turned out to be the sought U.S. agent, to shout that she was "a friend," while holding her hands up.
She was taken to an army border post by the Turkish soldiers and the situation was reported to the prosecutor's office.
The wounded agent was delivered to U.S. officials and then taken to the Incirlik Air Base, used by U.S. forces in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), in the southern province of Adana.
