Clashes broke out between fighters of the Kurdish Front Jabhat al-Akrad and al-Qaeda linked gang groups, ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham) and al-Nusra Front, which attacked the Kurdish neighborhoods in the Rakka city Wednesday afternoon.

Ten members of the gang groups were killed and two fighters of the Kurdish front lost their life in clashes. The armed groups kidnapped 300 civilians in the Kurdish neighborhoods they targeted.

A large part of the Rakka city is currently controlled by al-Qaeda linked armed groups. The rest of the city is being held by forces of the Syrian regime.

On 24 August, armed groups had kidnapped 260 passengers after stopping five buses traveling from Afrin to Qamişlo in western Kurdistan. Many of the kidnapped civilians were released 48 hours later.

A civilian who was among those kidnapped said after their release that the gang members subjected the kidnapped civilians to brutal torture and beheaded one among them on the grounds that he cooperated with the Syrian regime.