2d LD: Al-Qaida militants kidnap 300 Syrian Kurds

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front group has kidnapped as many as 300 Syrian Kurds in the northwestern province of Idlib, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported Monday.

Children were among those snatched from the town of Dana in the countryside of Idlib, said the report, spelling no further details.

Meanwhile, a Kurdish source familiar with the incident also told Xinhua that the 300 Kurds were passengers travelling from the predominantly Kurdish city of Afrin in the northern province of Aleppo to the capital Damascus, adding that the Nusra fighters cut off their bus near the town of Dana in the Idlib province and captured them.

The snatched Kurds were taken to a court for the Nusra to look into their situation, the source added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog group, said the Nusra militants demanded the Kurdish authorities in Afrin to release three men the Kurdish fighters had kidnapped before while carrying out "excavation mission" in Afrin.

The observatory has stopped short of giving details about the identity of the three people the Nusra has demanded release in exchange for the 300 Kurds.

The Nusra Front and allied militants captured the entire city of Idlib late last month, making it the second provincial capital to fall out of the government control since the Islamic State (IS) group captured the entire city of al-Raqqa around two years ago. Endit