Turkey seizes over 400 migrants trying to cross to Greece

Turkey's coast guard officials rounded up over 400 migrants, who attempted to cross the Aegean Sea in order to gain access to Europe through Greece.

Thursday's coastal guard operations are the latest in a series of attempts to seize migrants who are trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos from Ayvacık town on Turkey's western coast.

Authorities said they have seized a total of 423 migrants from Iran, Iraqi, Eritrea and Afghanistan on their boats. A crowd of Syrian refugees were among the migrants, who were held in nine different operations, based on a tip-off from the town residents.

The migrants including women and children were sent back to Ayvacık after being identified by coast guard officials.

There has been an upsurge in the recent months in the numbers of refugees and migrants, who attempted to reach Greece, travelling on shaky vessels. Europe has been rocked by the migrant crisis and the misery of refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria.

European leaders have bowed to overwhelming domestic and international pressure and German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the EU will accept one million migrants until the end of 2015.