Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrians after overrunning several villages in north-eastern Syria, two activist groups said today.
Nuri Kino, the head of the activist group A Demand For Action, which focuses on religious minorities in the Middle East, said IS fighters are holding between 70 and 100 people captive, most of them from the Christian Assyrian village of Tal Shamiram.

Mr Kino said his group based its information on conversations with villagers who fled the onslaught and their relatives.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of Assyrian captives at 90.

Tal Shamiram is located some 50 miles (85km) south-west of the Hassakeh provincial capital of Qamishli.

Islamic State fighters overran Tal Shamiram and other nearby Assyrian villages yesterday.  

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