ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) saw at least 18 deaths since the beginning of the year, Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported on Wednesday amid a destabilizing situation in the camp. Al-Hol camp continues to live up to its "ticking time bomb" label and violence in the camp have seen a surge in the past five months, documenting at least 18 murders and a further 13 injuries, ANHA said. The camp has seen a total of 148 murders and 103 injuries since it first opened, it added. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested droves of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters and their families when they overran ISIS's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol, which is now home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities. Iraqi nationals make up the bulk of the camp's population and are followed in second place by Syrians. The camp has infamously been branded a breeding ground for terrorism, with Kurdish and Iraqi authorities describing the sprawling camp as a "ticking time bomb," saying the situation in the camp is "very dangerous" with ISIS sleeper cells roaming the camp. Suspected ISIS cells in the camp have also burned 23 tents since January in the camp, almost doubling last year's total of 13 burned tents, according to the numbers ANHA published which further indicates the escalation of violence there. The outlet blames the deteriorating situation in the squalid camp on the international community's unwillingness to repatriate its nationals housed in the camp over security concerns. The body of an Iraqi woman on Tuesday was found by the internal security forces (Asayish) in the camp, which marked the sixth killing in the camp in the month of May. The woman was found decapitated and handcuffed. Around 450 Iraqi families returned to Iraq from the camp in April, an Iraqi immigration official told Rudaw, despite the country being one of the world's top executioners.
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