The bodies of at least 67 Syrian civilians, many summarily killed by the Islamic State (IS) group, have been discovered in a central town in Syria retaken from the IS by government troops over the weekend, activists said yesterday.
The news of the gruesome find in the town of al-Qaryatayn, in Homs Province, began to emerge first late on Sunday.
The number of bodies was likely to climb. Some were shot in the street as IS militants retreated from the town, gunned down because they were suspected of working with the governments, activists said.
Photo: AFP
At least 35 of the casualties were found shot and their bodies dumped in a shaft.
Homs Province Governor Talal Barazi yesterday said the killing of more than 60 civilians was a “shocking massacre.”
The search and documentation of those killed in the town of al-Qaryatayn is still under way, he said.
Barazi said most of the bodies were of townspeople who were government employees or were affiliated with Syria’s ruling Baath party.
At least 13 residents remain missing, while six bodies have not been identified, he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the killings of at least 128 people killed in al-Qaryatayn during the last days of IS control of the town.
On Saturday, Syrian troops and allied militias regained control of the town, which had been held by IS for three weeks.
The government-run Syrian Central Military Media at the time said the Syrian army and its allies restored security and stability to al-Qaryatayn after clearing the town of IS fighters.
At least 83 people were killed in the 48 hours before the Syrian army retook the town, the war monitor said, adding that the IS had accused the civilians of being “agents of the regime.”
The activist-run Palmyra Coordination Committee published the names of 67 civilians confirmed killed and also said the number was likely to rise. It said at least 35 were found shot and dumped into a deep shaft.
The activist-run group said other bodies were also found in the town streets — apparently of people shot by pro-government forces and suspected of working with the IS.
The Observatory also said it documented at least 12 killed at the hands of pro-government troops after they regained control of the town.
IS militants first seized al-Qaryatayn in August 2015, and relied on the strategically located town to defend another of their bastions, the historic city of Palmyra. At the time, thousands of the town’s Christian residents fled, fearing the extremist group’s brutality.
With Russian backing, Syrian troops regained control of the town in April 2016.
However, the IS, facing major setbacks around Syria and Iraq, launched a new attack on the town late last month and recaptured it.
At the time, Russia accused the US, which is battling the IS, of looking the other way and allowing IS to attack al-Qaryatayn.
Most of the IS militants who were involved in attacks on the town were local residents.
Pro-government media blamed the loss of al-Qaryatayn for the second time on what it described as militant “sleeper cells.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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