Following an HNGN report that covered the execution of 19 women who refused to engage in "sexual jihad" with the extremist fighters, the Islamic State has abducted 230 residents of a key Syrian town, a significant number of them being Christians.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of the 230 people abducted in Qaryatain were Christians, with some of them being captured while attending church. The town has recently been captured after a long battle with the Syrian army, according to the Seattle Times.
The head of the Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, said the Christians were "either kidnapped from checkpoints or raids or from churches." It is believed that about 45 of the abducted were women, 19 were children and 11 were from families who were on the extremist group's most wanted list, reported MSN News.
The town of Qaryatain is located near a road that connects the ancient city of Palmyra, which was captured earlier this year by ISIS, and the Qalamoun mountains, which lie along the border of Lebanon.
An Assyrian Christian group said the recent abductions are the latest in a string of initiatives being conducted by the Islamic State against the Christians of the area. In May, two priests, Father Yacoub Murad and Monk Petros, who ran monasteries in the area, disappeared from the town.
The fate of Christians that get captured by the militants are quite unclear.
