Jihadist hold 200 Syria Kurds hostage: NGO

A Kurdish rebel fighter runs to avoid government forces' snipers in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on April 14, 2013. Jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda have taken hostage around 200 Kurdish civilians after violent clashes with Kurdish fighters in two villages of eastern Syria, a monitoring group said. (AFP/File)

BEIRUT (AFP) – Jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda have taken hostage around 200 Kurdish civilians after violent clashes with Kurdish fighters in two villages of eastern Syria, a monitoring group said.

"Fighters of Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have seized control of Tall Aren village in Aleppo province and are laying siege to another village nearby, Tall Hassel. They have taken hostage around 200 civilians from the inhabitants of the two villages," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.