Hundreds of Kurds fleeing Islamic State-held villages in northern Syria amid a wave of mass abductions have come under fire, with several killed or wounded, opposition activists and a Kurdish official says.
In eastern Syria, meanwhile, airstrikes on a village controlled by the extremist group have killed at least 30 people and wounded many others, opposition activists said on Saturday.
Activist Omar Abu Leila, who is from the eastern city of Deir el-Zour but currently lives in Europe, said Saturday's airstrikes targeted a mosque in the village of Qourieh, killing at least 30 people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 46 people were killed in Qourieh, including children.
It says 31 of the dead were civilians and the rest have not been identified yet.
Abu Leila said the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes. Russia has denied targeting civilians.
Qourieh is in the province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq. Most of the province is ruled by the extremist group.
In the northern province of Aleppo, hundreds of Kurds fled as the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed and predominantly Kurdish militia, clashed with IS inside Manbij, a key stronghold of the extremist group.
The SDF have pushed into the town from the southern edge, capturing grain silos and flour mills, according to the Observatory.
One family who fled was struck by a mine on Friday that killed two family members and wounded the other three, Sherfan Darwish, an SDF spokesman, told The Associated Press.
He said a 10-year-old girl was killed by IS sniper fire on Friday.
"Civilians are defying death in order to leave areas controlled by Daesh," Darwish said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
The exodus began after IS abducted about 900 Kurdish civilians in Aleppo province over the past three weeks and forced them to build fortifications for the extremists in retaliation for the Kurdish-led assault, which is also targeting the IS stronghold of al-Bab.
Others were trying to flee Manbij, which is surrounded by SDF fighters.
Some of the abducted Kurds have been pressganged into digging trenches and shelters for IS, according to the Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman. Darwish said others are being used as human shields.
Abdurrahman said some 120 more Kurds have been abducted since Friday.
The extremists have warned residents who leave that they will not be allowed to return to their homes and "will be punished if they try to return," he said.
He said many of those fleeing are heading to areas that were recently captured by the SDF south of the IS-held town of Marea. Abdurrahman said IS fighters opened fire on those fleeing, killing several of them, including children.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist-run monitoring group, said IS opened fire at people trying to flee from Manbij, killing 10 of them, including children.
Share
