Syrian detention camp rocked by dozens of killings blamed on Islamic State women

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Middle East

Syrian detention camp rocked by dozens of killings blamed on Islamic State women

Officials at vast al-Hol camp say more than 70 have been slain this year as militants seek to enforce strictures and settle scores

By Louisa Loveluck
Yesterday at 12:00 p.m. EDT

AL-HOL CAMP, Syria — The killings have taken on a creeping sense of inevitability, guards say. No one admits to hearing them, let alone knowing who is responsible.

On a recent morning, officials inside al-Hol detention camp said it was still too dangerous to try recovering the latest pair of corpses discovered overnight. “We’re still investigating,” said an exhausted camp guard, slumping in her office chair, her shirt rumpled and ponytail messy after a night without sleep.

Since January, officials report, more than 70 people have been killed inside northeast Syria’s al-Hol camp, which houses 62,000 family members of Islamic State fighters and others detained during the collapse of its self-declared caliphate more than two years ago.

Al-Hol has become an ever more dangerous and desperate place. Religious militancy is on the rise, imperiling those who are not as fanatical. Killings are often blamed on hard-line women who take advantage of the fragile security to enforce their strictures and settle scores. Security sweeps to confiscate handguns, knives and other weapons have made little difference, according to officials at the camp, which is run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Tensions between captives and captors are boiling.

{snip}

Mustafa al-Ali contributed to this report.

By Louisa Loveluck
Louisa Loveluck is the Baghdad bureau chief. She was previously based in Beirut for the Post and worked as the Cairo correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. Twitter https://twitter.com/leloveluck

[Tetrachloride]

1. Not a single piece of evidence or testimony except

there exist dead bodies inside the campus.