ISIS has released 19 of an estimated 220 members of an Assyrian Christian community kidnapped in north-eastern Syria, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said an Assyrian commander had told it of the releases.
Some reports say the releases were made in exchange for a sum of money.
The kidnappings took place shortly before dawn on February 23, when ISIS militants swept into about 12 villages.
Men, women and children from the villages, located on the southern bank of the Khabur River, near the town of Tal Tamr, were taken captive.
Correspondents say that news of the releases will provide some comfort to the Christian Assyrian community – which has been devastated by the abductions – even though there is concern for those still being held.
Assyrian Christian officials said that the 16 men and three women who were released arrived safely on February 28 at the Church of the Virgin Mary in the city of Hassakeh.
The nineteen – all from the village of Tal Ghoran – had been transported by bus from the IS-held town of Shaddadeh, which is south of Hassakeh.
Some reports say that all those freed were about 50 or older, indicating that age might be a factor.
The Assyrian Human Rights Network said the captives gained their freedom after a Sharia court ordered them to pay an unspecified amount of money levied as a tax on non-Muslims.
Assyrian leaders and Sunni tribal sheikhs are trying to negotiate with ISIS to secure the release of the remaining captives, activists said.
It is estimated that up to 40,000 Assyrians lived in Syria – alongside the overall Christian population of 1.2 million – before the country’s civil war broke out in 2011.
The Assyrians, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, have been under increasing pressure since ISIS captured large parts of Syria.
Some 1,000 local Assyrian families are believed to have fled their homes in the wake of the abductions.
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According to new reports, there are more members of an Assyrian Christian community in north-eastern Syria were abducted by ISIS militants than at first thought.
Sources in the community said as many as 200 people might have been seized on February 23 in raids on a string of villages near Tal Tamr, in Hassakeh province.
Most of the captives were women, children and the elderly.
Some 1,000 local Assyrian families are believed to have fled their homes in the wake of the abductions.
Kurdish and Christian militia are battling Islamic State in the area.
At least 90 Assyrians were seized by the militants on February 23 as they captured 12 villages along the southern bank of the Khabur river before dawn, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition group that monitors the conflict in the country.
The Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150, while Afram Yaboub of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden said sources on the ground had told him that at least 60 and up to 200 people were missing.
Osama Edward of the Sweden-based Assyrian Human Rights Network told the AFP news agency that the captives had been taken to the ISIS stronghold of Shaddadi, as did Syria’s state news agency, Sana.
“People were expecting an attack, but they thought that either the Syrian army, which is just 30km [20 miles] from there or the Kurds or the [US-led] coalition’s strikes would protect them,” Osama Edward said.
Hundreds of Assyrians who were living in villages on the north bank of the Khabur River and elsewhere are reported to have fled following the attack to the largely Kurdish-controlled provincial capital of Hassakeh, to the south-east, and Qamishli, another city to the north-east.
“Since Monday, 800 families have taken refuge in the city of Hassakeh and another 150 in Qamishli,” Osama Edward reported.
The Syriac Military Council had about 400 fighters in the area and at least four had been killed in clashes with the jihadists, he added. The YPG has deployed between 1,000 and 1,500 fighters.
The YPG was also reported to be continuing a major offensive launched on Sunday against IS some 60 miles to the east, near the border with Iraq – an area of vital importance to the jihadists.
The Syrian Observatory said at least 132 ISIS militants had been killed in the offensive, along with seven members of the YPG.
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At least 90 Assyrian Christians have been kidnapped by ISIS militants from villages in north-eastern Syria, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.
Some Assyrians managed to escape and made their way east to the largely Kurdish-controlled city of Hassakeh.
It comes as Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes continue to advance into ISIS-held territory.
On February 23, a Kurdish official said ISIS militants had been forced back to within 3 miles of the town of Tal Hamis by the Popular Protection Units (YPG).
The Syrian Observatory confirmed the advance by the YPG and said at least 12 ISIS fighters had been killed on February 23.
Hassakeh province is strategically important in the fight against ISIS because it borders both Turkey and areas controlled by the group in Iraq.
