Politics

Islamic State attack kills dozens Iraqi refugees in Syria

Dozens of Iraqi refugees have been killed in Syria on Tuesday in an attack by the Islamic State (IS) insurgents on a camp south to the northeastern province of Hasaka near Syria's border with Iraq.

Hisham Arafat 2017/05/02 16:55

kurdistan Syrian Kurds Al Hawl YPG SDF Rojava

HASAKA, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) - Dozens of Iraqi refugees have been killed in Syria on Tuesday in an attack by the Islamic State (IS) insurgents on a camp south to the northeastern province of Hasaka near Syria's border with Iraq.

A number of IS insurgents infiltrated into the Syrian territories through the border crossing of Rajm al-Salibi in the early morning and attacked a nearby camp for Iraqi refugees.

The attack on the camp led to killing more than fifteen as well as injuring more than 30 Iraqi refugees and fighters belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Syrian US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance which the Kurdish forces of People's Protection Units (YPG) are a key component.

The YPG confirmed in a statement that the death toll rose to 37 Iraqi refugees.

"International organizations’ silence towards IDPs and refugees who are seeking shelter in Rojava (northern Syria) has already cost lives; this morning (May 2, 2017) 37 refugees from Iraq were killed by Daesh terrorists on Syrian border, a horrific massacre," the statement said.

Kurdistan24 learned from Kurdish security sources that the injured have been transported to the hospitals and clinics of Hasaka.

A Kurdistan24 reporter in Hasaka confirmed there were four bodies in addition to 22 injured in a critical condition in the National Hospital, a public hospital in a Kurdish-controlled district of the city.

The border area of Rajm al-Salibi contains a center for receiving the Iraqi fugitives who flee the fighting taking place in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The SDF investigates the fugitives, registers them in lists and then transports them to a refugee camp near the town of Al-Hawl, south of Hasaka.

Dijwar Ahmad, Head of Humanitarian Organizations Office in Jazira Canton, told Kurdistan24 in an earlier interview that nearly 3,000 Iraqis arrived in Al-Hawl refugee camp as the battle of Mosul was announced.

Syria’s Kurdish northern and northeastern areas, known as Rojava, have already hosted thousands of Iraqi refugees who fled from IS's assaults on Mosul and Sinjar in northern Iraq.

Editing by Ava Homa