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.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for a meeting of senior officers Sunday to discuss the attack on senior journalist Hamid Mir, a media report said.
Thousands of people have gathered in Vatican City to celebrate Easter Sunday. Pope Francis will lead the mass in St. Peter's Square right in front of the St. Peter's Basilica, BBC reported.
An Indian-American woman in north Texas, accused of killing her son and leaving his body in the bathtub for four days, claims she did so in accordance with her Hindu beliefs.
Two notorious brothers in Pakistan who were arrested in 2011 on charges of digging up about 100 graves, stealing the bodies and eating them were released after two years in imprisonment. They have been held again.
Children born to expatatriates, who have married Saudi women, will be treated as Saudis for work, education and medical purposes, Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director-general of Saudi Arabia's passports department said.
