Daesh attack on Syrian crossing kills 37 civilians
Militant group ‘committed a massacre’ in camp holding hundreds of displaced people
BEIRUT— Daesh militants staged a surprise attack early Tuesday at a crossing frequently used by Iraqi and Syrian civilians seeking safety in northeastern Syria, killing at least 37 people, mostly civilians, Kurdish officials and activists said.
The militants struck before dawn after sneaking into the village of Rajm Sleibi, located along a front line that separates the Kurdish-controlled Hasakah province from Daesh-held areas further south. Some militants reportedly blew themselves up at a Kurdish checkpoint while others attacked sleeping civilians in a nearby temporary camp sheltering hundreds of displaced people who fled Daesh-controlled territory.
The International Rescue Committee said thousands of people from the Iraqi city of Mosul have travelled west to the Sleibi crossing since October, often via smugglers. In a statement, it said several children were among the dead and wounded.
“It was three in the morning when Daesh came and started to shoot at people,” said Abdulah Khalef Hamid, an Iraqi refugee from Mosul, who said his mother-in-law was killed in Tuesday’s attack. “I was wounded and they thought I was dead so they left me. We were around 200 families, they left at sunrise.”
Redur Khalil, a spokesperson for the main Kurdish fighting force in Syria, said the attack started with an early morning assault by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL, on a checkpoint in Sleibi belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.backed and Kurdish-dominated force fighting the militants.
Daesh then “committed a massacre” against civilians as they sought to enter SDF-controlled territory, Khalil said.
He told The Associated Press the attack came a few hours after Daesh suicide bombers dressed in civilian clothes sneaked into the town of Shaddadeh and attacked SDF forces, triggering clashes that were ongoing.
Survivors from the attack on the camp said the militants arrived in four cars before shooting several people and kidnapping others.
“They were shouting ‘You are infidels and you are going toward the infidels,’ ” said Fatima, a displaced Syrian woman who asked that her last name not be used, fearing retribution. “They shot at the checkpoint and at the civilians there, and they dragged the youngsters and put them in the cars and drove them away.”