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.
An Uzbek terrorist group, whose members are believed to be hiding in Pakistan's restive Waziristan tribal region, has claimed that its fighters had had staged Sunday's deadly attack on Karachi airport.
The Airport Security Force (ASF) Academy's camp near the Karachi international airport came under attack from heavily-armed Taliban gunmen Tuesday within a day of a terror siege that ended in a toll of 30, media reports said.
Over 50 suspected Boko Haram fighters were killed in a military operation by troops in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the stronghold of the outlawed sect, authorities said Monday.
The Jinnah International Airport in Pakistan's Karachi reopened to passengers Monday afternoon following Sunday night's terrorist attack in which 19 people were killed and 25 others injured, local officials said.
