Women and children beheaded in IS assault on Syrian villages

Islamic State militants have attacked several government-held villages in central Syria in violence which left 52 people dead, including more than two dozen women and children - some of whom were beheaded.

The attack in the central Hama province targeted villages where most residents belong to the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam, raising fears the extremists might massacre them, as they have in other minority communities in Syria and Iraq.