Syrian activists: Islamic State slits throats of 33 young men

Terror organization said to carry out vicious mass killing in town near Iraqi border

By AP 6 April 2017, 3:01 pm

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In this undated file photo released by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants of the Islamic State group hold up their weapons and wave flags on their vehicles, in a convoy on a road leading to Iraq, from Raqqa, Syria. (Militant website via AP)

BEIRUT — Syrian activists said the Islamic State terror group killed 33 young men in eastern Syria, close to the border with Iraq.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS members slit the throats of the men, aged between 18 and 25, near the town of Mayadeen in Deir el-Zour province on Wednesday.

The group said it’s not clear who the men were and whether they were Syrian troops or rebels.

Opposition activist Omar Abu Laila, who is from Deir el-Zour but currently lives in Europe, also reported the killing.

IS has carried out similar killings in Syria this year. When it controlled the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, IS carried out public beheadings, including of the antiquities chief whose body was hung from a pole in a main square.