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.
Pakistani journalists live under constant threat of being killed, harassment and other violence from all sides, including intelligence services, political parties and armed groups like the Taliban, the Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday.
The killing of Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden did not fully quench Americans’ desire for revenge. Instead, according to research, US citizens have a stronger desire to take further revenge against those who were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) would not contest the Indian government's request for return of antique idols, the Indian high commission said Tuesday.
At least five security personnel and a robber were killed in an exchange of fire Tuesday in Pakistan, a media report said. Four others were injured in the firing.
A Sikh school in Britain has reassured its students and their parents that its premises are completely safe after it was claimed that the school was constructed on contaminated soil, media reported Monday.
