Three Islamic State activists have been killed in eastern Syria, Syrian state TV and a group that tracks the Syrian conflict said yesterday, the third attack on the movement in the area reported last week.
The latest incident occurred in or around the town of Al-Boleel in Deir al-Zor province – not far from where a senior figure in Islamic State’s self-declared police force was said to have been killed on Tuesday and at least three members of the group were reported abducted last Wednesday.
Syrian state TV said the latest attack was carried out by “the popular resistance in the eastern region”. An Islamic State vehicle was targeted and three people inside were killed, the television station reported in a headline flashed on screen.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that draws on a network of activists to track the war, said preliminary reports indicated that three Islamic State activists had been killed. It identified the target as Islamic State’s office in Al-Boleel.
Islamic State controls nearly all of Deir al-Zor province, which stretches from its stronghold in Raqqa in Syria to the border with Iraq
The killings occurred after midnight on Friday, it said.
“After the attack, Islamic State carried out an arrest campaign,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory. He said Islamic State had confiscated internet equipment in the area, hindering the Observatory’s reporting.
IS controls nearly all of Deir al-Zor province, which stretches from its stronghold in the Syrian province of Raqqa to the border with Iraq and links together its self-declared caliphate in the two countries.
An Egyptian man, who was a senior member of Islamic State’s police force, was found decapitated in the town of Al Mayadeen, the Observatory said on Tuesday. “This is evil, you Sheikh” was written on his body and a cigarette was in his mouth.
Al Mayadeen is some 20 kilometres south of Al-Boleel.
IS bans smoking in areas under its control, in line with its strict interpretation of Islam.
The ambush reported by the Observatory on Wednesday targeted a vehicle used by the Islamic State police force in Al Mayadeen. Unidentified gunmen abducted at least three Islamic State activists who had been in the vehicle, Abdulrahman said.
As with other areas under its rule, IS has crushed any dissent in Deir al-Zor province, where the group’s control expanded rapidly after it seized Mosul in June. Islamic State executed 700 members of one rebellious tribe, the Sheitaat, the Observatory reported in August.
Unidentified opponents of IS have, however, mounted attacks on the group, picking off its activists whenever they can in a violent campaign against its rule.