BEIRUT: Jihadists from the Islamic State group have kidnapped at least 90 Assyrian Christians in northeast Syria, after overrunning two villages, a monitor said Tuesday.
The abductions appeared to be the first time the group has kidnapped Christians en masse in Syria, though the jihadists have taken thousands of prisoners as they have advanced in the country and neighbouring Iraq.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said IS kidnapped the 90 Assyrians on Monday after seizing two villages in Hassakeh province.
The group had no immediate details on those kidnapped, including whether women and children were among them, or where they were being held.
There were just 30,000 Assyrians in Syria before the country's conflict erupted in March 2011, with most of them living throughout Hassakeh province.
They represent a tiny percentage of the country's overall Christian population, which numbered around 1.2 million people before the war.
The 90 Assyrians were kidnapped after IS fighters overran the villages of Tal Shamiram and Tal Hermuz, which had been under the control of Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters.
Fierce clashes broke out on Monday between IS and YPG forces for control of the two villages as well as the nearby town of Tal Tamr, which remains under Kurdish control.
After the clashes, IS forces set fire to part of a church near Tal Tamr, before installing some of their fighters in the remains of the building, the Syrian Revolution General Commission activist network reported.
The US-led coalition fighting IS, which has backed Kurdish forces battling the group, then bombed the building on Monday, destroying it and killing IS forces inside, the SRGC said.
Control of Hassakeh province is largely divided between Kurdish forces, who in some places patrol with regime troops, and IS fighters.
YPG fighters have since last week been advancing in the province, expanding on their gains further west in Raqa and Aleppo provinces.
Since recapturing the strategic border town of Kobane in Aleppo from IS fighters on January 26, YPG forces have taken dozens of nearby villages.
They have also seized 19 villages from IS in Raqa, where the jihadist group has its de facto capital, and another 30 villages and hamlets in Hassakeh.
The Kurdish advances have been aided by the US-led air strikes, including a series in Hassakeh on Monday that killed at least 14 IS fighters, the Observatory said.
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