IS executes more than 160 captured Syrian soldiers

Islamic State militants have claimed that they executed more than 160 Syrian soldiers, who were taken captive after the jihadist group seized a key northern air base this week

According to News 24, the group tweeted that they had killed 200 defeated troops and posted video of what they said was the garrison in headlong flight.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 160 Syrian soldiers were massacred in three different places in Raqa province yesterday and early morning today.

Abdel Rahman said the defeated battalion had a total of 1 400 soldiers, out of which, 200 were killed while 700 managed to escape.

Meanwhile, scores of remaining 500 soldiers were captured as they attempted to cross the desert to government-held territory in the Orontes Valley to the west, the report said.

The group has declared an Islamic state in the territories it controls on both sides of the border.