ISIS kills 146 civilians in Syria's Kobane 'massacre'

The Islamic State group killed 146 civilians in a 24-hour rampage through the Kurdish town of Kobane in what a monitor on Friday said was one of the jehadists’ “worst massacres” in Syria.The killing spree in the town, which has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance, was widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on the jehadists by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.

It began after three ISIS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to the town yesterday clearing the way for fellow jehadists to enter.

Women and children were among the slain civilians whose bodies were found in their homes and in the streets, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “According to medical sources and Kobane residents, 146 civilians were executed by ISIS in their homes or killed by the group’s rockets or snipers,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

“When they entered the town, the jihadists took up positions in buildings at the southeast and southwest entrances, firing at everything that moved.”

local journalist Mostafa Ali said that there was no military dimension to the ISIS assault on Kobane. “ISIS doesn’t want to take over the town. They just came to kill the highest number of civilians in the ugliest ways possible,” he told AFP.The jehadist group also executed 26 civilians in a village outside Kobane on Thursday, the Observatory said. “Every family in Kobane lost a family member on Thursday,” Kurdish activist Arin Shekhmos said.

The jehadists had entered Kobane at dawn yesterday disguised as fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), said journalist Ali. They then took up positions in buildings in the south of the town, using civilians as “human shields,” he said.The Islamic State group killed 146 civilians in a 24-hour rampage through the Kurdish town of Kobane in what a monitor on Friday said was one of the jehadists’ “worst massacres” in Syria.The killing spree in the town, which has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance, was widely seen as vengeance for a series of defeats inflicted on the jehadists by Kurdish militia in recent weeks.

It began after three ISIS suicide bombers blew up vehicles at the entrances to the town yesterday clearing the way for fellow jehadists to enter.

Women and children were among the slain civilians whose bodies were found in their homes and in the streets, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “According to medical sources and Kobane residents, 146 civilians were executed by ISIS in their homes or killed by the group’s rockets or snipers,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

“When they entered the town, the jihadists took up positions in buildings at the southeast and southwest entrances, firing at everything that moved.”

local journalist Mostafa Ali said that there was no military dimension to the ISIS assault on Kobane. “ISIS doesn’t want to take over the town. They just came to kill the highest number of civilians in the ugliest ways possible,” he told AFP.

The jehadist group also executed 26 civilians in a village outside Kobane on Thursday, the Observatory said. “Every family in Kobane lost a family member on Thursday,” Kurdish activist Arin Shekhmos said.The jehadists had entered Kobane at dawn yesterday disguised as fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), said journalist Ali. They then took up positions in buildings in the south of the town, using civilians as “human shields,” he said.