At least 60 Christians abducted by Islamic State in Syria

Gunmen have abducted 230 civilians, including at least 60 Christians, in a central Syrian town hours after it fell to Islamic State, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The monitoring group said the civilians were taken on Thursday in the town of Qaryatain, a day after it was captured by Daesh.

“Daesh kidnapped at least 230 people, including at least 60 Christians, during a sweep through Qaryatain,” observatory chief Rami Abdurrahman said, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadi group.

Islamic State gunmen reportedly kidnap scores of Christians in Qaryatain /BBC

Many of the Christians had fled from Aleppo province, in Syria’s north, to seek refuge in Qaryatain, Abdurrahman explained.

He added that those abducted were wanted by ISIS for “collaborating with the regime”, and their names were on a list used by the  jihadists as they swept through the town. Families who tried to flee or hide were tracked down and taken by the jihadists.

Some were taken from inside a church, SOHR said. It said IS was hunting down a list of people it suspected of "collaborating with the regime".

The Assyrian Federation of Sweden, whose members have relatives in the town, said about 100 families were being held.

The federation says it has not been able to contact anyone inside the town and the conditions of the captives are not known. A local Christian militia said it believed the captives were taken away to a mountain, but their fate since then is unclear.

“LARGER SCALE THAN USUAL”

Victims were on a list used by the jihadists

“This is larger scale than usual, but, in different parts of the country where they have been operational, Daesh has picked up large groups of civilians, but often people flee before IS arrives. It is rare that they get into towns where thousands of people are still living”, Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International Syria researcher, said.

Sammonds confirmed that Christians are always in danger with Daesh: “We know that Christians and ‘collaborators’ are a target of IS. They are at the highest risk either for some kind of summary justice or for Christians in particular, some kind of high ransom demand or exchange.”

Earlier this year, dozens of Assyrian Christians were abducted by IS militants in attacks on villages in Hassakeh province in north-east Syria.

Qaryatain lies at the crossroads between Daesh territory in the eastern countryside of Homs and areas further west in the Qalamun area.