Terrorists of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant” have kidnapped at least 50 Kurds in the past three days, as they executed an Iraqi journalist.
Terrorists of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant” have kidnapped at least 50 Kurds in the past three days, as they executed an Iraqi journalist.
"In the past three days, ISIL has kidnapped at least 51 Kurds in the towns of Minbej and Jarablus," said the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Among the hostages were nine children and a woman, said the Britain-based group, adding that there was no information on where they had been taken.
Minbej and Jarablus are located in Aleppo province, which is home to a Kurdish minority.
The kidnappings come weeks after Kurdish fighters further east, in majority Kurdish areas, expelled extremist militants after battles that lasted several months.
In response, the terrorists have imposed a siege on Kurdish areas of Aleppo, where Kurdish fighters are weaker, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
In July, ISIL kidnapped some 200 Kurdish civilians from the Kurdish towns of Tal Aran and Tal Hassel also in Aleppo province. Only a few of those hostages have since been released, the Observatory says.
Meanwhile, a press freedom watchdog said on Thursday that extremist militants have kidnapped and executed an Iraqi freelance cameraman working in northern Syria.
"Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili's execution was the first of a foreign journalist in Syria's so-called liberated areas," said Soazig Dollet, head of Reporters Without Borders' Middle East and North Africa desk, referring to the areas uncontrolled by the Syrian government.
Joumaili had been working as a freelance cameraman for an unidentified Spanish media outlet in strife-torn Aleppo province for about 10 days, Soazig said.
He was kidnapped by ISIL terrorists while on his way out of Syria and executed in the northwestern border province of Idlib on Wednesday, she added.
Joumaili had previously worked for Al-Jazeera English and Reuters, Doullet said.
