IS abducts dozens of Syrian Christian families

Islamic State militants have abducted dozens of Christian families after seizing a strategically located town in the central Syrian province of Homs, a monitor said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 230 people were kidnapped, including dozens of Christians, some taken from a church in Qaryatain, the town captured overnight after heavy fighting with the Syrian army. Qaryatain is near a road linking the ancient city of Palmyra to the Qalamoun mountains, along the Lebanese border.

Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its “caliphate”. They consider Christians as infidels.

Last February, the hardline jihadists abducted at least 250 Assyrian Christians, many of whom were children and women, during raids on villages in northeastern Syria, in a mass abduction coinciding with an offensive in the same region by Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes. The fate of many of these civilians is unclear, as is that of a number of priests believed to be held by the militants.