Exchange of kidnappings in al-Suwaidaa | Gunmen shoot young man during botched kidnap, while others kidnap two men near Kanaker
Al-Suwaidaa province: SOHR sources have reported that a young man from Kanaker village in the south-west of al-Suwaidaa sustained serious wounds, after being shot by unknown gunmen near the village yesterday. The young man resisted the gunmen who were attempting to kidnap him, so the gunmen shot him, and then they dumped him near the national hospital in al-Suwaidaa city.
After this incident, other gunmen stormed a farm on the road to Kanaker, arresting the farm’s guard and another young man who was heading to his work in the “project of vegetables” near Kanaker. Meanwhile, the residents have accused a family in the area of involving in the recent kidnappings as a reaction to the kidnapping of one of its sons on October 9, while he was on his land in Ara town in the south of al-Suwaidaa, after hijacking his car.
It is worth noting that al-Suwaidaa province has experienced repeated kidnappings, mostly were carried out for collecting ransoms or over retaliations.
On October 15, SOHR activists reported that the exchange of kidnappings between armed men from Daraa and others from al-Suwaidaa in southern Syria was affecting the residents of the two provinces.
In this context, armed men, believed to belong to the family of a kidnapped engineer known by his initials as Y. A. from al-Suwaidaa, have kidnapped a civilian known by his initials as M. R. from Um Walad town in Daraa countryside, while he was returning from Syrian Capital Damascus with his wife and children. The kidnappers demanded the release of the engineer who was kidnapped a few days earlier in return for releasing Daraa’s kidnapped civilian.
While on October 9, SOHR sources reported that unknown gunmen on a motorcycle kidnapped a civilian from Arra town in the western countryside of al-Suwaidaa, while he was in his farmland in the west of the town. The kidnappers also seized the civilian’s car.
On the other hand, unknown gunmen attacked civilians’ houses in al-Qurayya town in al-Suwaidaa countryside with machineguns and grenades, before the town’s residents launched a combing campaign on the outskirts of the town. However, the identities of the attackers remained unknown.