Syrian state media on Friday said violence erupted in the northern Kurdish-majority town of Kobane as residents protested over the killing of a former Kurdish fighter.
Syrian state television said “outlaws” attacked police cars and carried out an “attack on the Internal Security Directorate building”.
The man, Sami Shekhmous Hiso, also known as Sepan, was reportedly kidnapped before his body was returned with bullet wounds on Thursday in the northeastern Hasakeh province.
Kurds had gathered in several parts of the north and northeast to protest his killing.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said security forces imposed a curfew on Kobane.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the heinous crime that claimed the life of the young man, Sami Sheikhmous Hiso, in a reprehensible incident that violates human, moral, and legal values and constitutes an attack on the security of society and the sanctity of citizens’ lives,” Hasakeh province governor Noureddine Ahmed Eissa said.
Early on Friday, Sipan Hamo, regional assistant defence minister and a former senior Kurdish military official, mourned Hiso and said a number of people had already been arrested over the case.
“I condemn all inflammatory media rhetoric that incites violence and murder, and I call upon our people to exercise patience and restraint and not be drawn into attempts to incite discord,” he said.
In January, the Syrian government and the Kurds, who once controlled swathes of north and northeastern Syria, reached an integration agreement following clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and the new authorities’ forces that saw the Kurds lose swathes of territory.
Last month, Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said the integration of the Kurds’ civilian and military institutions into the Syrian state was complete, and announced the dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces days later.
Abdi was appointed as adviser to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in late August.
Kobane carries symbolic value for the Kurds, as it was there that Kurdish fighters pushed back and defeated Islamic State group jihadists in 2015.
bur-nad/pdw
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
