Fire breaks out at north Syria camp housing families linked to Islamic State group fighters

By HOGIR AL ABDO
Associated Press

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — A fire has broken out in a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing tens of thousands of mostly women and children linked to the Islamic State group. It caused material damage but no casualties. The Al-Hol Camp holds about 51,000 people, the vast majority of them women and children, including the wives, widows and other family members of IS militants. But there are also around 8,000 women and children from 60 other nationalities who live in a part of the camp known as the Annex. The camp’s director says the fire broke out in the annex torching 10 tents and reaching a center for an organization that takes care of children. She said the cause of Wednesday’s fire still unknown.