ISLAMIC STATE (Isis) extremists have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in north-eastern Syria, activists and relatives said yesterday.

The latest assault began before dawn on Monday, when the militants swept through the villages nestled along the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province.

The area is predominantly inhabited by Assyrians, an indigenous Christian people who trace their roots back to the ancient Mesopotamians.

During the raids, the militants took between 70 and 100 Assyrians captive, said Nuri Kino, the head of the activist group

A Demand For Action, which focuses on religious minorities in the Middle East.

He said that 3,000 people had managed to flee the onslaught and sought refuge in the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the abductions. It put the number of Christians held by Isis at 90.

Both groups said that most of the captives come from the village of Tal Shamiram, located 50 miles south-west of the provincial capital of Qamishli.

Isis’s online radio station al-Bayan reported yesterday that its forces had detained “tens of crusaders” and seized 10 villages around Tal Tamr after clashes with Kurdish militia units.

The Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria said that the militants had moved their captives to the village of Umm al-Masamir on Mount Abdulaziz, south of Tal Shamiram.