Security stepped up at al-Hol camp after ISIS woman stabs guard
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrian Kurdish officials have stepped up security measures at the al-Hol camp in Hasaka, northeast Syria after a female Islamic State (ISIS) prisoner stabbed a guard with a knife and escaped on Wednesday.
“Today, an ISIS woman in al-Hol camp had asked the camp administration to leave for shopping. She was allowed and was escorted out by a security member of the camp. But on the way, the ISIS woman stabbed the security member in the back,” Sheikh Mus Ahmed, an official in charge of all camps in northern and eastern Syria, told Rudaw.
The camp official did not identify the attacker by name or nationality.
Stricter measures, including a curfew, have been imposed “disallowing exit from the camp from anyone until the woman is arrested,” he added.
The Iranian Kurdish security officer, named as Izzadin Ahmed, survived the attack. A photograph published by Hawar, a news agency close to the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG), shows the guard being treated in a Hasaka hospital with the blade still protruding from his back.
Health authorities in Hasaka told Rudaw the guard will remain in the city’s hospital until tomorrow and is expected to recover.
The vastly overcrowded al-Hol camp shelters around 75,000 people, mainly those who fled Baghouz, the last ISIS holdout in eastern Syria. Among them are thousands of wives and children of ISIS fighters from Syria, Iraq, and western countries.
Many of these women have clung to the radical ideology of the jihadist group and have attacked their guards or burned down the tents of other women seen talking to men or for removing their veils, according to a recent BBC report.
Western nations have been reluctant to repatriate their nationals because of security concerns and worries they would not be able to build a case against them to secure a prosecution in their home courts.
Russia, France, and Germany are among nations that have brought home some children. The Kurdish administration has repeatedly warned that they cannot manage the situation without international support.
“Today, an ISIS woman in al-Hol camp had asked the camp administration to leave for shopping. She was allowed and was escorted out by a security member of the camp. But on the way, the ISIS woman stabbed the security member in the back,” Sheikh Mus Ahmed, an official in charge of all camps in northern and eastern Syria, told Rudaw.
The camp official did not identify the attacker by name or nationality.
Stricter measures, including a curfew, have been imposed “disallowing exit from the camp from anyone until the woman is arrested,” he added.
The Iranian Kurdish security officer, named as Izzadin Ahmed, survived the attack. A photograph published by Hawar, a news agency close to the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG), shows the guard being treated in a Hasaka hospital with the blade still protruding from his back.
Health authorities in Hasaka told Rudaw the guard will remain in the city’s hospital until tomorrow and is expected to recover.
The vastly overcrowded al-Hol camp shelters around 75,000 people, mainly those who fled Baghouz, the last ISIS holdout in eastern Syria. Among them are thousands of wives and children of ISIS fighters from Syria, Iraq, and western countries.
Many of these women have clung to the radical ideology of the jihadist group and have attacked their guards or burned down the tents of other women seen talking to men or for removing their veils, according to a recent BBC report.
Western nations have been reluctant to repatriate their nationals because of security concerns and worries they would not be able to build a case against them to secure a prosecution in their home courts.
Russia, France, and Germany are among nations that have brought home some children. The Kurdish administration has repeatedly warned that they cannot manage the situation without international support.