• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

IS Group Clashes Continue in Deir El-Zour Where 300 Were Killed

  • Deir al-Zor, Syria on April 7, 2013.

    Deir al-Zor, Syria on April 7, 2013. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 January 2016
Opinion

The Islamic State group reportedly freed 270, mostly women and children, of 400 civilians Kidnapped during its assault on the eastern city.

Clashes continued Wednesday between Syrian government forces and militants from the Islamic State group in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour after the extremist group reportedly released 270 people of the 400 civilians it kidnapped over the weekend when it began its assault on the government-controlled city.

The monitor group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that clashes continued in the western side of Deir el-Zour city amid airstrikes by Russian warplanes.

Islamic State group “executed six soldiers around Ayash and al-Shametia towns after detaining them last night” during clashes where 11 militants from the group were also killed, according to SOHR.

RELATED: UPDATE: Islamic State Group Slaughters 300, Abducts 400

Meanwhile, the extremist group released 270 people overnight Tuesday and most of those released were children and women according to the monitoring group. However, the Islamic State group took 50 more men as prisoners from areas it now controls in and around the Deir el-Zour, which means they are holding at least 180 people hostage.

Rami Abdulrahman, the Observatory's head, told Reuters news agency most of the prisoners are male prisoners between the ages of 14 and 55 and have been kept in for more questioning.

"Those who they see have ties with the regime will be punished and those who (do) not must undertake a religious course based on the group's interpretation of Islam," Abdulrahman said.

RELATED: Israel Prefers Islamic State Group to Iran, Ignores Syrian Suffering

The news comes few days after the extremist group launched bloody attack on government-held areas in the city of Deir el-Zour Saturday, killing over 300 fighters while beheading 75 people and abducting about 400.

The Islamic State group controls most of the Deir el-Zour province, but many areas in the capital Deir el-Zour remains under Syrian government control. The city has been besieged since march 2014 by the Islamic State group fighters.

The city is of strategic importance for the extremist group as it would link the group's de facto capital in Raqqa with territory controlled by the militant group in neighboring Iraq. The civilians released will remain in Islamic State-run villages in the province of Deir el-Zour.

WATCH: Syria's Deir el-Zour City Under Attack

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.