Death toll in ISIL Syria carnage hits 48
The death toll from the recent massacre perpetrated by the Takfiri ISIL militant group in a northwestern Syrian village has climbed to 48.
A report published by Syria’s official SANA news agency put the overall death toll from the carnage in the village of Mabujeh, located in the central Syrian province of Hama, at 48. Earlier reports had put the fatalities at 30 with many more injured.
Police officials said most of the victims of the Tuesday massacre were women and children.
Syrian government forces, backed by volunteer fighters, later launched an operation and managed to retake control of the village from ISIL. Syrian military aircraft also carried a number of airstrikes and pounded ISIL positions in the area.
The development came days after the Takfiri group released a new video showing the purported beheading of eight Syrian soldiers in Hama.
The video, which went viral on Sunday, showed ISIL terrorists executing the soldiers, clad in orange jumpsuits, for “being Shia Muslims.”
Militant mortar attack on capital
Meanwhile, at least one civilian has been killed and over a dozen others injured in a mortar attack carried out by foreign-backed militants against the Syrian capital, Damascus.
A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said terrorists lobbed a number of mortar shells at the al-Kabbas neighborhood of the Syrian capital, on Tuesday.
The source added that the projectiles also caused damage to a number of houses and buildings in the residential area.
Those injured in the attack were transferred to nearby hospitals to receive medical treatment.
Cities and towns across Syria have frequently come under bomb attacks as well as mortar and rocket fire by militants since militancy erupted in the country more than four years ago.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 210,000 people, according to reports.
New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.
Over 3.8 million Syrians have left their country since the beginning of the crisis. More than 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced, according to the United Nation.
