Fears grow as Islamic State seizes Christians

ISLAMIC State group jihadists have abducted 220 Assyrian Christians in northeastern Syria in recent days, a monitoring group said yesterday, as international concern grows for the minority group.

The kidnappings – more than twice as many as previously reported – have prompted thousands more Christians to flee their homes to avoid being captured by the Sunni Muslim extremists, activists said.

“No fewer than 220 Assyrian citizens were abducted by IS over the past three days from 11 villages” in Hasakeh province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Negotiations are under way through mediators from Arab tribes and a member of the Assyrian community to secure the release of the hostages,” the Br i t ai n- based monitor ing group said.

Many of the abductees are said to be women, children or elderly.

They were taken as IS stormed several Assyrian villages under the control of Kurdish and Christian forces.

The Observatory said 14 Kurdish fighters and three members of an Assyrian defence organisation had been killed in three days of fighting for the villages.

The US and UN denounced the mass abduction of Christians – the first of its kind in the war-tor n countr y – and demanded their release.

“ISIL’s latest ta rget ing of a religious minority is only furt her testa ment to its br uta l and inhumane treatment of all those who disagree with its d i v i s i v e goa l s a nd t ox i c bel iefs,” State Depa r t ment spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, using another acronym for the Islamic extremists.

The UN Security Council also condemned the abductions, demanding the hostages be immediately and unconditionally freed.

Osama Edward, director of the Assyrian Human Rights Network, told AFP on Wednesday he believed the abductions were linked to the jihadists’ recent loss of ground in the face of US-led air raids.

“They took the hostages to use them as human shields,” he said.

The jihadists, who are battling Kurdish fighters on the ground, may try to exchange the Assyrians for IS prisoners, he said.

The kidnappings and assault by IS on several Assyrian villages in Hasakeh prompted thousands of members of the community to flee.

Many sought refuge in Qamishli, a large city in the province that is controlled by Kurdish and regime forces.