More than 330 people have been killed in heavy fighting since ISIS militants first attacked a prison in northeast Syria, a war monitor said on Sunday.
The ISIS fighters on January 20 launched their biggest assault in years on the Ghwayran prison in the Kurdish-controlled city of Hasakeh, aiming to free fellow extremists, and dozens remained holed up inside on Sunday.
The death toll in fierce clashes since then rose to 332 as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) found over 50 more bodies overnight in prison buildings and nearby areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based group, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said that 246 extremists, 79 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians had been killed so far in the ISIS assault and battles since.
“The newly discovered bodies were inside and outside the prison,” Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, told AFP.
He said the death toll was likely to rise further “because there are dozens of people who are wounded, others who are still missing, and information about more casualties” on both sides.
The SDF announced they had recaptured the prison on Wednesday but intermittent clashes continued until Saturday between Kurdish fighters and extremists near the jail.
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