QAMISHLI, Syria: Syrian Kurdish forces said Wednesday they thwarted an escape attempt by more than 50 inmates of Al-Hol camp, which holds people suspected of ties to the Daesh group.
Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have run camps hosting thousands of suspected militants and their families since the militant group lost its last territory in Syria six years ago.
Kurdish security forces said they thwarted a “mass escape attempt” from the Al-Hol camp by several Daesh families on Tuesday “numbering 56 individuals.”
They added that the detainees attempted to escape “using a large vehicle.”
Kurdish security forces detected “suspicious activity yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, when a group of people were seen boarding a vehicle in an abnormal manner,” they said in a statement.
The troops “stopped the vehicle as it attempted to pass through the main gate, arresting all those inside.”
Al-Hol houses approximately 27,000 people, including some 15,000 Syrians and about 6,300 foreign women and children from 42 nationalities, in addition to some 5,000 Iraqis, camp director Jihan Hanan told AFP in August.
Since Daesh’s defeat, the Kurdish-run administration has repeatedly called on foreign governments to repatriate their nationals.
Despite repeated warnings from international organizations of the dire conditions in the camps, many Western governments have refused to repatriate their citizens.
Neighbouring Iraq, however, has repatriated around 17,000 people, mostly women and children.
In February, Kurdish official Sheikhmous Ahmed said the administration aimed to empty the camps of Iraqis and displaced Syrians by the end of the year.