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IS controls 90 pct of Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus

Xinhua, April 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front have become in control of over 90 percent of a main Palestinian refugee camp south of the Syrian capital of Damascus, a monitoring group said Saturday.

The capture of Yarmouk Camp, 5 km south of Damascus, by the Nusra and the IS groups came after four days of intense battles with the rival jihadist group, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdes, which has been in control of the camp since 2013.

The Aknaf group has retreated to the northeastern part of Yarmouk, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the IS beheaded two people in Yarmouk, spelling no details on the reasons behind the gruesome killing. Other activists said seven Palestinians were killed by the IS during the four-day-long battles.

Meanwhile, Syria's official news agency SANA said the Syrian government forces have for long besieged the camp since the Aknaf militants took control over it over two years ago, adding that the clashes are ongoing inside Yarmouk between the extremist groups.

Aknaf Beit al-Maqdes is a group of Palestinian fighters who sided with other jihadist groups in the face of the Syrian government. Reports said the Nusra Front, which was stationing near the camp, had facilitated the entry of the IS militants into that battered area.

The Syrian government brands the Aknaf group as a terrorist militant organization after the group refused several reconciliation attempts that were designed to disarm the militants inside the camp and alleviate the suffering of the trapped people inside.

The Yarmouk camp is a large district in southern Damascus. Among its one million residents, 170,000 are Palestinian. Most of them fleed to Syria in 1948 following the establishment of the Israeli state.

Many people inside the camp have suffered a big deal during the last two years as the suffocating siege prevented the entry of food and medicine to the trapped people, save for some aid convoys that were delivered in cooperation between the Syrian authorities and humanitarian organizations. Endit