30 who were guards at cement factory still being held by group, their fate unknown

The Islamic State group has released most of the 300 cement workers it abducted near Damascus after questioning them to find out who were Muslims and killing four who were members of the minority Druse sect, a Syrian opposition monitoring group and a news agency linked to the extremists reported on Saturday.

The reports came two days after IS abducted the cement workers and contractors from al-Badia Cement Company in Dumeir, just northeast of the capital, after a surprise attack on government forces.