ISIS said to round up 900 Kurds

Civilians taken in Syria forced to fight, work, activists report

This file image posted on the Twitter page of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, which is consistent with AP reporting, shows Nusra Front fighters moving forward to fight against Syrian troops and pro-government gunmen at the hilltop of Khalsa village, southern Aleppo, Syria.
This file image posted on the Twitter page of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, which is consistent with AP reporting, shows Nusra Front fighters moving forward to fight against Syrian troops and pro-government gunmen at the hilltop of Khalsa village, southern Aleppo, Syria.

BEIRUT -- Islamic State militants abducted about 900 Kurdish civilians in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo over the past three weeks in retaliation for a Kurdish-led assault on a nearby extremist stronghold in the province, activists said Friday.

The abductions come during fierce fighting for control of Manbij -- a key Islamic State stronghold in the Syrian province -- where the extremists are being routed from the city center by the predominantly Kurdish and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

Some of the abducted Kurds have been forced to dig trenches and shelters for the Islamic State, Kurdish media activist Rezan Hiddo said, while others were forced to wear Islamic State uniforms and ordered to fight at the fronts.

The militants have killed 26 of the captives for resisting detention or refusing orders, Hiddo said. His report could not be independently confirmed, and the Islamic State made no immediate claim over the abductions or the killings.

On Friday, the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces battled Islamic State militants inside Manbij after encircling the stronghold in a weekslong offensive that has been backed by U.S.-coalition airstrikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported that coalition jets struck targets around the city. The Democratic Forces has lost 89 fighters since its campaign for Manbij began May 31, according to the Observatory. Also, 463 Islamic State militants have been killed.

The push by the Democratic Forces into Manbij has been slow as the U.S.-backed fighters first focused on capturing dozens of villages and farms near the city in the past weeks.

The city lies along the only Islamic State supply line between the Syrian-Turkish border to the north and the Islamic State extremist group's self-styled capital, Raqqa, which lies to the southeast, in the Islamic State-held neighboring province of Raqqa.

The U.S. has 300 special operations force troops with the Democratic Forces. The White House says they are advisers. French special forces operators also are working with the group.

Democratic Forces spokesman Sherfan Darwish said the Islamic State militants began abducting Kurdish civilians in retaliation for the offensive on Manbij.

"Whenever Daesh is defeated, they retaliate against civilians," Darwish said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, adding that whole families are among those taken.

The abductions have been taking place mostly in areas under Islamic State control, from the western Manbij countryside to the towns of al-Bab and al-Rai, according to Hiddo. He said the campaign has prompted families to flee the towns in fear.

The Observatory and Darwish said some of those taken captive have been forced to dig trenches in extremist-held areas while others are imprisoned. Darwish said all captured males above the age of 12 were sent against their will to the front lines to help fortify Islamic State positions.

Many of the captives are being held in an Islamic State prison in Qabasin, Hiddo said. Those forced into labor are digging fortifications underneath homes in al-Bab.

"[Islamic State militants] are digging a city underneath the town to protect themselves from airstrikes," Hiddo added.

The Islamic State has not engaged in any negotiations for the release of the Kurdish civilians, nor asked for any ransom, Hiddo said, speaking from the nearby Kurdish stronghold of Afrin.

The extremist group has a history of mass kidnappings in areas they control in Syria and Iraq and mostly has targeted Christians and Kurds in the past.

The Observatory also said Islamic State fighters stormed homes in several villages they control near al-Bab, including Arab, Qabaseen and Nairabiyeh, and took with them mostly men.

In 2014, the Islamic State abducted nearly 200 Kurdish students near Manbij as they went from the Kurdish town of Kobani near the Syrian-Turkish border to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the provincial capital, to take their exams. Most were later released.

In February 2015, the Islamic State kidnapped more than 200 Christians from northeastern Syria. The Christians were released over a period of a year, after the extremist group collected millions of dollars in ransom.

Information for this article was contributed by Philip Issa of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/25/2016

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