Islamic State killed 270 in Syrian gas field battle - monitor

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(Reuters) - Militant group Islamic State killed 270 soldiers, guards and staff when they captured a Syrian gas field on Thursday in the bloodiest clash yet between the al Qaeda offshoot and President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

The anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Thursday that 90 people had been killed and that many were missing after the attack against the Sha'ar gas field east of Homs in central Syria.

But on Saturday, the Observatory, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of sources in the country on both sides, quoted "trusted sources" as saying that the Islamic State had "killed and executed" 270 people during the assault. It said at least 40 Islamic State fighters were killed in the offensive.

Islamic State has made rapid gains in Syria, mostly by seizing territory from rival rebel groups, using weaponry brought in from Iraq where last month it managed to take large areas from government forces.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/19/syria-crisis-attack-idINKBN0FO0HR20140719?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

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1. Syria aims to retake gas field

Syrian government forces have launched a counter-attack to recapture a gas field seized by Islamic extremists, activists said, as the death toll from three days of fighting there rose to more than 200.

The fighting in the Shaer field, in the desert region of Palmyra in the central province of Homs, has been among the deadliest battles between government forces and the Islamic State group since the start of the Syrian uprising more than three years ago.

Fighters from the Islamic State have in the past few weeks seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border, where they declared a self-styled caliphate. They have captured much of Syria's oil-rich eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian special forces launched an attack late last night on the Shaer field and regained parts of it.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/syria-aims-to-retake-gas-field-30444235.html

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2. ISIS surge: Over 270 killed in Syria, former US base stormed in Iraq's Tikrit

http://rt.com/news/174080-isis-iraq-syria-tikrit/