Significant increase in the number of murders in Al-Hol Camp in North and East Syria

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — On Wednesday morning, an Iraqi refugee was found dead in his tent in Al-Hol Camp, shot six times in the head and chest.

As the security situation in Al-Hol Camp, a section of which houses thousands of people affiliated with the Islamic State, continues to deteriorate, violence crimes committed in the camp have increased.

On an almost daily basis, ISIS cells within the camp have been attacking Syrian and Iraqi civilians housed in other sections of the camp. The resource strapped Democratic Autonomous Administration (DA) of North and East Syria which oversees the camp, has pleaded with the international community to do more to support it by repatriating their citizens inside the camps and provide material and financial aid to improve conditions and security in the camp.

According to Jaber Sheikh Mustafa, an official in the Relations Office in the camp, 31 Iraqis and Syrians were killed at the hands of ISIS cells, six of whom were killed with a sharp object with the rest killed by gunshot.

The statement follows earlier reports by other officials last month that 14 people had been killed in the camp, three of them beheaded. A humanitarian worker had indicated that some crimes could have been committed due to tribal tensions and not by members of ISIS.

In a report last month, a U.N. Security Council committee warned that camps for displaced persons and detention facilities in the area posed a potential threat.

In addition to the killings, the camp has seen a series of other security incidents, including escape attempts and attacks against guards or humanitarian workers.