Islamic State came with a hit list

Three weeks later, militants left town in a trail of blood

QARYATAYN, SYRIA» The Islamic State militants came into the Syrian town with a hit list. By the time they left three weeks later, more than 70 civilians had been killed — shot or beheaded, their bodies dumped in farms and ditches.

The apparent revenge killings in the town of Qaryatayn underscore the ability of the extremists to inflict heavy losses even when they’re in retreat — and portend more violence as they fight to hang on to their last strongholds in Syria.

News of the gruesome slayings began to emerge late Sunday, after Islamic State militants were driven out by advancing government troops.

Terrified residents said they watched the slaughter from their windows or in the streets.

One former resident said his surviving family members walked for miles to find cellphone coverage so they could tell him of the deaths of his uncle, two cousins and a fourth relative. Another uncle remains missing.

“They came into town with a hit list,” said Abdullah AbdulKarim, adding that 35 of the 50 militants who overran the town late last month were originally from Qaryatayn. He said the militants accused many of their victims of collaborating with the government, but many others also were caught in the revenge killing.

“Our curse is from within us,” he said, speaking to The Associated Press from northern Syria, where he fled years ago.

Once a predominantly Christian town known for its ancient monastery, Qaryatayn has changed hands between the Islamic State and the Syrian government several times during Syria’s civil war. Parts of the 1,500-year-old St. Elian monastery were demolished the first time the Islamic State took over the town in 2015 and thousands of its Christian residents fled, fearing the extremist group’s brutality.

An AP video, filmed as Syrian government troops recaptured Qaryatayn on Saturday, showed several bodies lying in the streets. In the video, a town resident said the Islamic State “monsters” killed more than 100 people, including soldiers and civilians.

“These are people who don’t know God. They don’t know anything. They killed children and women with knives, they beat women, broke their arms,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear for his own safety.