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Islamic State group kills captured Syrian soldiers

Smoke rises following an explosion in Syria's Quneitra province as Syrian rebels clashed with President Bashar Assad’s forces, seen from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. From the Israeli side of the de facto border, large clouds of smoke could be seen, as gunfire and explosions sounded in the distance. Israeli soldiers observed the fighting. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Smoke rises following an explosion in Syria's Quneitra province as Syrian rebels clashed with President Bashar Assad’s forces, seen from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. From the Israeli side of the de facto border, large clouds of smoke could be seen, as gunfire and explosions sounded in the distance. Israeli soldiers observed the fighting. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

By Associated Press August 28, 2014 1 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – Syrian activists say the Islamic State group has killed dozens of government soldiers it captured after overrunning a military base this week.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the militants seized the soldiers in the countryside near the Tabqa airfield on Wednesday.

Observatory’s director Rami Abdurrahman says the extremists then killed up to 65 soldiers.

He says some were shot to death, while others were killed with knives.

An online statement circulated on Twitter by supporters of the Islamic State group claimed the extremists killed “about 200” government prisoners captured near the Tabqa base. It also showed photographs of what it said were the prisoners: young men stripped down to their underwear marching in the desert.