IS abducts 300 factory workers in Syria

Islamic State fighters have kidnapped 300 cement workers in an area northeast of Damascus where the militants launched an assault against government forces this week, Syrian state television said on Thursday. The workers and contractors of Al Badia Cement company were taken from near the town of Dumeir and their employer had lost all contact […]

Islamic State fighters have kidnapped 300 cement workers in an area northeast of Damascus where the militants launched an assault against government forces this week, Syrian state television said on Thursday.
The workers and contractors of Al Badia Cement company were taken from near the town of Dumeir and their employer had lost all contact with them, state TV quoted the industry ministry as saying.
Fierce fighting broke out around Dumeir and the Dumeir military airport, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital, late on Tuesday night after Islamic State militants launched attacks on government areas northeast of the capital.
Opposition sources in the rural eastern suburbs of Damascus said large parts of the town of Dumeir, which was already in the hands of squabbling rebel groups, were also captured by the militants who had fired at civilians protesting against their presence.
The attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday included detonation of bomb-laden cars around the Dumeir military airport and an assault on the nearby Tishrin power station.