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At least 750 Isis affiliates escape camp after Turkish shelling
Source: The Guardian
At least 750 Isis affiliates escape camp after Turkish shelling
Kurdish-led administration in north Syria says riot broke out in camp holding women and children
Bethan McKernan in Akçakale
Sun 13 Oct 2019 12.53 BST
First published on Sun 13 Oct 2019 11.41 BST
At least 750 people with suspected links to Islamic State have reportedly fled a displacement camp in north-east Syria, local officials have said, raising fears that the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in the area could lead Isis to regain strength amid the chaos.
The 249 women and 700 children of the “caliphate” held in a secure annex at the Ain Issa camp began rioting and scared away the guards after Turkish shelling struck close to the area on Sunday, said Abdulkader Mwahed, the joint president for humanitarian affairs in the Kurdish-held part of Syria, in a statement.
Jelal Ayaf, the co-chair of the camp’s management, said sleeper cells within the civilian section also emerged during the riot, attacking the guards and causing them to flee.
The UK-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number to have escaped at 100, publishing pictures of men, women in black niqabs and small children running through yellow scrubland. It was not clear whether the pictures showed Isis families or civilian residents of the camp fleeing the Turkish attack. No Isis men were held at the facility.
Save the Children’s staff members on the ground reported no foreign women were left at the camp and that masked men on motorbikes were circling the perimeter.
-snip-
Kurdish-led administration in north Syria says riot broke out in camp holding women and children
Bethan McKernan in Akçakale
Sun 13 Oct 2019 12.53 BST
First published on Sun 13 Oct 2019 11.41 BST
At least 750 people with suspected links to Islamic State have reportedly fled a displacement camp in north-east Syria, local officials have said, raising fears that the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in the area could lead Isis to regain strength amid the chaos.
The 249 women and 700 children of the “caliphate” held in a secure annex at the Ain Issa camp began rioting and scared away the guards after Turkish shelling struck close to the area on Sunday, said Abdulkader Mwahed, the joint president for humanitarian affairs in the Kurdish-held part of Syria, in a statement.
Jelal Ayaf, the co-chair of the camp’s management, said sleeper cells within the civilian section also emerged during the riot, attacking the guards and causing them to flee.
The UK-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number to have escaped at 100, publishing pictures of men, women in black niqabs and small children running through yellow scrubland. It was not clear whether the pictures showed Isis families or civilian residents of the camp fleeing the Turkish attack. No Isis men were held at the facility.
Save the Children’s staff members on the ground reported no foreign women were left at the camp and that masked men on motorbikes were circling the perimeter.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/kurds-say-785-isis-affiliates-have-escaped-camp-after-turkish-shelling
