Kurds say more than 50 Daesh members netted in Syria's Al Hol camp

AL HOL CAMP, Syria — Kurdish forces said on Tuesday they have so far arrested 53 suspected Daesh group members in a northeast Syria camp for relatives of terrorists, in an anti-Daesh security operation.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the launch Sunday of the sweep in Al Hol camp, which has been rocked by assassinations and breakout attempts.

Kurdish authorities have warned that the settlement, home to almost 62,000 people, is turning into an extremist power keg because of Daesh members hiding out among camp residents.

The Kurds' Asayish security forces said they have "detained 53 Daesh members, including five leaders of Daesh sleeper cells that carried out violent terrorist attacks in the camp".

They had also "confiscated mobile phones as well as several laptops", the SDF-allied police unit added.

Heavily-armed Kurdish forces stood outside the camp on guard as others stormed suspected hideouts inside the vast settlement, an AFP reporter said.

In some sections, residents stood outside their tents watching the anti-terrorist squad scour the area.

Al Hol is the largest of two Kurdish-run displacement camps for relatives of Daesh terrorists in Syria's northeast.

It holds mostly Syrians and Iraqis but also houses thousands from Europe and Asia suspected of family ties with Daesh fighters.

Many residents see the camp as the last vestige of the Daesh proto-state that terrorists declared in 2014 across large swathes of both Syria and Iraq.

Kurdish authorities have recorded more than 40 murders in Al Hol since the start of this year.

They say Daesh  sympathisers are behind most of the murders, while humanitarian sources have said tribal disputes could be behind some of the killings.

Simand Ali, a Kurdish official, told AFP jihadists had dug trenches in Al Hol that they used to hide prohibited electronic devices and other goods.

Those detained so far have mostly been Syrians and Iraqis, he said.