US-Israeli reporter Steven Sotloff among those killed by Isis

Qatar and FBI find remains of 30 people believed killed by Islamic State in Syria

Bodies uncovered near Dabiq on Turkish border, DNA tests underway in effort to identify them; Qatari internal security forces declines to say who the search team was looking for

By AP and ToI Staff 12 May 2025, 12:50 pm

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This frame grab from video posted online January 18, 2019, by supporters of the Islamic State group, purports to show a gun-mounted Islamic State group vehicle firing at members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, Syria. (Militant Photo via AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria — The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by the Islamic State terror group have been found in a remote Syrian town in a search led by Qatari search teams and the FBI, according to a statement from Qatar on Monday.

The Qatari internal security forces said the FBI had requested the search, and that DNA tests are currently underway to determine the identities of the people. The Qatari agency did not say who the American intelligence and security agency is trying to find.

Dozens of foreigners, including aid workers and journalists, were killed by IS terrorists who had controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq for half a decade and declared a so-called caliphate. The group lost most of its territory in late 2017 and was declared defeated in 2019.

Since then, dozens of gravesites and mass graves have been discovered in northern Syria containing remains and bodies of people IS had abducted over the years.

American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, fellow US journalist James Foley, and humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig are among those killed by IS.

John Cantlie, a British correspondent, was abducted alongside Foley in 2012, and was last seen alive in one of the extremist group’s propaganda videos in 2016.

Screen capture from a video showing US-Israeli citizen Steven Sotloff with an Islamic State terrorist. (JTA)

The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

Mass graves have also been found in areas previously controlled by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in a lightning insurgency in December, ending his family’s half-century rule. For years, the Assads used their notorious security and intelligence agencies to crack down on dissidents, many of whom have gone missing.

The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the uprising that began in 2011 and descended into a 13-year civil war.

Last June, a federal United States appeals court upheld the conviction of a British national for his role in a hostage-taking scheme by the Islamic State group that was tied to the abductions of Foley, Sotloff, Mueller, and Kassig.