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Conflicting reports about fate of abducted workers in Syria

Friday, 08 April 2016 6:05 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 April 2016 11:19 AM ]

The photo shows destruction in the town of al-Qaryatayn, Homs Province, central Syria, on April 4, 2016 after Syrian troops regained control of the town from Daesh Takfiri terrorists the previous day. (AFP photo)

Conflicting reports circulated on Friday over the fate of about 300 Syrian workers earlier abducted by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group from a cement factory near the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Amaq news agency, which is affiliated to Daesh, said the terrorist group freed the workers it had kidnapped after the capture of the factory on April 5, adding that four people were killed for being Druze.

The Syrian Industry Ministry had said on Thursday that 300 workers and contractors of al-Badia Cement were abducted from near Dumayr town.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a deal has been reached for the release of the abducted workers. The group said some 170 workers would be freed, adding that the rest had already managed to flee the hands of terrorists. However, the group failed to specify the number of workers who had been freed on Friday.

A military source said he saw tens of workers arrive on Friday evening at a nearby government-held military airport. According to AFP, the abductions occurred on April 4.

Militants had launched attacks against government forces in Dumayr earlier this week. Fierce clashes have been reported over the past days as the Daesh terror group has tried to wrest control of an air base and power plant in the area.

According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, since March 2011 the conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders. SOHR, however, puts the death toll at around 270,000.

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