Beirut (Associated Press) – 02/08/2022. 05:15
Women detained in al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria try to kidnap their Kurdish guards
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that women detained in al-Hol camp, which shelters families of ISIS fighters in northeastern Syria, tried to kidnap their Kurdish guards.
- The attempt led to a shooting, which resulted in the death of a child and the injury of several others
- The attack in the camp came days after ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in a US raid on his hideout in northwest Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that women detained in Al-Hol camp sheltering families of ISIS fighters in northeastern Syria attempted to kidnap their Kurdish bodyguards on Monday. The attempt led to shooting, killing a child and wounding several others.
A Kurdish official confirmed an attempt to kidnap the female guards, but did not immediately announce the number of casualties. Al-Hol camp The sprawl is where tens of thousands of women and children are held – mostly the wives, widows and children of ISIS members.
The attack in the camp came days after ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in a US raid on his hideout in northwest Syria. The camp witnessed dozens of crimes during the past year.
The incident also comes two weeks after ISIS fighters attacked a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka, where about 3,000 fighters are being held.
The prison attack led to 10 days of fighting between US-backed fighters and ISIS fighters that left nearly 500 people dead. Ultimately, the US-backed Kurdish fighters succeeded in controlling the situation.
President Joe Biden said al-Qurashi was responsible for the attack on a prison in Syria.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that women in al-Hol camp tried to kidnap guards, which led to a shooting in which a 10-year-old child was killed and six women and children were wounded.
The observatory said the shooting caused a fire and the women were unable to kidnap the guards.
Sheikhmus Ahmed, head of the Kurdish administration’s Department of Refugee and Displaced Affairs, confirmed to The Associated Press that some camp residents tried to kidnap their female guards. He has no information about the victims.
Another Kurdish official working in the camp said he was unaware of an attempted kidnapping but that there had been some rioting in a small section of mostly foreign women and children. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, he said seven women and children were injured during Monday’s riots.
In the fenced camp, many families often crowd together in tents, medical facilities are limited, and access to clean water and sanitation is limited.
There are about 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis in the al-Hol camp. Nearly 20,000 of them are children.
Monday’s incident occurred in the separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the Annex. There are another 2,000 women from 57 other countries there and they are home to about 8,000 children. The women in the appendix are staunch supporters of ISIS.
The observatory recorded 84 crimes inside the camp in 2021, in which 89 people were killed, including two Kurdish policemen, 67 Iraqis, and 20 Syrians.
