"IS" Says It Has Released 300 Syrian Cement Plant Employees Kidnapped a Few Days Ago

   The extremist group "Islamic State" said on the 8th that it had released 300 Syrian cement plant employees kidnapped a few days ago.

& emsp; & emsp; The "Islamic State" issued a statement on the same day through the AMAK News Agency, a media supporting the organization, saying that 20 employees were still detained and four others were executed.

   The statement said that earlier this week, the "Islamic State" attacked and took control of a cement factory in the town of Dumair near the Syrian capital Damascus, and "transferred" the employees of the cement factory to another place. Since then, 20 employees are believed to have joined the militia supporting the Syrian government forces.

   Since the kidnapping of Syrian cement factory employees, there has been different news from all sides. On the same day, sources close to the Syrian military said that the "Islamic State" had released most of the kidnapped cement plant employees in the early morning of the 7th local time, 110 released employees had arrived at the government stronghold in the town of Jerud, north of the town of Dumair, and 70 others had arrived at the government air base in Dumair. In addition, the "Islamic State" militants executed six cement factory employees and still detained 30 people.

   Editor's note: The attacked cement plant is named Badia Cement Plant, which has a 5000t/d cement clinker production line. The project is constructed by Sinoma Construction Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Sinoma Group, with a total investment of about 300 million US dollars. It is the first cement plant project contracted by Chinese enterprises in Syria and one of the largest projects built by China in Syria. At the end of 2010, Jia Qinglin, then chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, visited the project on the spot, accompanied by Shao Jun, chairman of China Cement Network.