The Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday released 19 Christian Assyrians they had kidnapped last month, a monitoring group reported.
The 19 people are the first batch of 29 Assyrians the sharia court of the IS exonerated on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, Xinhua reported.
On February 23, the IS abducted 220 Christian Assyrians during an assault it had waged on predominantly Assyrian areas, mainly in the area of Tal Tamr and its countryside in Syria's northeastern province of al-Hasakah.
The fate of the other abductees is still unknown amid reports that the rest of the Assyrians are awaiting trials in the IS courts.
There is no clear reason why would the IS even put the Assyrians on trial.
Also on Sunday, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the Syrian troops captured as many as 33 towns in the eastern countryside of Hasaka after clashes with the IS.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Friday visited scene of the June 25 shopping mall explosion that claimed at least 21 lives here and condemned the attack.
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges in the phone-hacking trial Tuesday, though ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson was found guilty of conspiring to hack phones.
A Pakistani couple was killed along with their four-year-old child in an apparent honour killing by their relatives in Quetta in south-western Pakistan, a media report said.
People in southern China celebrated the annual dog meat festival Saturday despite mounting protests from animal welfare groups and pet owners from across the world.
