Bodies of two girls found in Syria's al-Hol camp

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The dead bodies of two Egyptian girls were discovered on Tuesday in a camp housing families with links to the Islamic State (ISIS) in northeast Syria (Rojava), a war monitor reported, adding that the victims had been beheaded.

The bodies that were found were of two minors and were spotted in al-Hol camp's sewage system by the internal security forces (Asayish), according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor.

The monitor added that these were the first killings in al-Hol camp in more than three months, with the notorious camp infamously known as a breeding ground for ISIS and described as a "ticking time bomb" by authorities.

A humanitarian aid group expressed grave concern about the killings in an email sent to Rudaw English.

"This latest incident involving the deaths of children in the camp highlights the urgent need for longer-term solutions for children in al-Hol. Syrian children should be safely reintegrated into their local communities and foreign children should be repatriated to their countries of origin in a safe and dignified way," said Tanya Evans, the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Country Director in Syria.

An official at the camp told AP on the basis of anonymity that the girls were aged 11 and 13.

According to SOHR, 30 people have been killed in the sprawling facility since early 2022.

Such killings in al-Hol camp are often attributed to ISIS sleeper cells that refuse to rid themselves of the terror group's ideology.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested thousands of ISIS fighters along with their wives and children when they took control of the group's last stronghold in Syria in March 2019. Many of these people were taken to al-Hol and Roj camps.

Officials have repeatedly warned of ISIS indoctrination in the squalid camp and called on the international community to repatriate its nationals from the facility, but only a few countries have responded positively as most as worried about security concerns.