IS kidnaps 50 people from central Syrian village

The Islamic State (IS) group had kidnapped 50 Syrians from a central village it attacked in late March, a monitor group reported on Friday.

The IS also killed 46 other civilians, including children, and beheaded and burnt six local defense forces in the Mabujeh village in the central province of Hama during the attack on March 30, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that dozens of IS militants were also killed.

The kidnapped people, a mix between Sunni Muslims and Ismaili minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, were taken to the IS controlled areas in the eastern countryside of Hama, the UK-based watchdog group said, adding that there has no information about their destiny.

The state news agency SANA once reported at the time of the attack that the Syrian forces backed by the local defense fighters repelled the IS attack against the village, which is situated near the international road connecting central Syria with the northern city of Aleppo.

The minority groups in Syria have felt threatened by the emergence of the IS, which targets and kills people of the Shiite minority, to whom the ruling elite in Syria belongs. Endit