IS militants' chilling killing figures

Damascus, Jan 17: Over 280 people, most of them women, children, and elderly, were killed when the Islamic State (IS) militants stormed a town in Syria's Deir al-Zour province, a media report said on Sunday.

"A horrific massacre was committed by the IS terrorists in the Al-Bughailiyeh neighbourhood in eastern Deir al-Zour province, where 280 people, largely women, children and elderly, were killed," reported Xinhua news agency citing al-Mayadeen TV.

The IS attack on the neighbourhood was carried out early Saturday, with several suicide bombers blowing themselves up at government forces' positions, the TV report said.

Syria's state news agency SANA also reported the mass killing, saying tens of people were massacred by the IS in al-Bughailiyeh neighbourhood in Deir al-Zour province.

Meanwhile, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog group, said the IS sneaked into al-Bughailiyeh earlier on Saturday, killing 75 government forces.

The latest IS attack on the neighbourhood comes amid renewed battles between the IS and the Syrian military forces in several areas in Deir al-Zour, including the vicinity of the main airbase near the Iraqi borders.

IANS