'Over 200 bodies' found in Syria mass grave

Bodies of 230 people believed killed by ISIL found in mass grave uncovered in Syria's Deir al-Zor province

The bodies of 230 people killed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have been found in a mass grave uncovered by their relatives in Syria's Deir al-Zor province, according to a monitoring group.

The discovery brings the number of members of the al-Sheitaat tribe killed during ISIL’s summer advance in Deir al-Zor, near Iraq, to more than 900, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.

"The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has learned from trusted sources that more than 230 bodies have been found in a mass grave in the desert near al-Kashkiyeh in the east of Deir al-Zor," said the Britain-based group.

It said the "vast majority" were civilians, and that many of them were executed in cold blood after the tribe rose up against ISIL. The tribe had earlier driven out rival self-declared jihadists and rebels from the area.

ISIL controls large swathes of northern and eastern Syria, as well as parts of neighboring Iraq.

Omar Abu Layla, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army group said al-Sheitaat tribespeople had discovered the mass grave as they returned to their homes. Islamic State, which occupies the area, had given them permission to return after months of displacement.

"This is a message from Daesh that if there is any attempt at revenge, your fate will be the same as your relatives," he said, using a derogatory Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Pictures shared by Abu Layla and activists on social media said to be of the mass grave showed decaying bodies and bones covered in dust and dirt lying amid rocks and sand.

Islamic State militants control much of Deir al-Zor province, which borders territory also under its control in Iraq.

The province's oilfields have been a major source of revenue for the group, but its operations have been under pressure since a U.S.-led coalition started launching air strikes against it in Syria in September.

In August, activists said the militant group had killed some 700 members of the al-Sheitaat tribe, the majority of them civilians, over the preceding two weeks after conflict flared when the militants took over two oilfields.

The people in the newly discovered mass grave are believed to have been killed around the same time, activists said.

The Observatory, which has tracked violence on all sides of the nearly four-year-old conflict, said many of the al-Sheitaat victims had been beheaded.

Hundreds more members of the Shaitat tribe are still missing, said the Observatory, which relies on a large network of activists, doctors and military sources on all sides of the Syrian conflict for its reports.

Wire services

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