Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-03 03:13:35|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) group executed another hostage that was taken into captivity during an attack in July on Syria's southern province of Sweida, a well-informed source told Xinhua Tuesday.

The slain hostage is Thuraya Abu Ammar, a 25-year-old single woman, who was taken as a hostage along with at least 30 civilians during an attack by IS on the eastern countryside of Sweida on July 25, according to Hamoud al-Hinawi, a religious leader in Sweida, which is largely inhabited by people of the Druze sect.

The IS militants first executed a 19-year-old man, and later a woman was said to have died due to her tough medical condition while in IS captivity.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the killing of Abu Ammar, saying the woman was shot in the head.

The execution of the woman comes at a very sensitive time as reports have emerged that there was a progress in the negotiations between the IS and the Syrian government through mediators.

Druze local fighters also released 27 people who are relatives to IS fighters as a good-will gesture for the release of the Sweida hostages.

Those relatives were taken after the IS kidnapped the hostages from the town of Shebki in the eastern countryside of Sweida.

The Observatory said tension has increased in Sweida on the heels of the killing of Thuraya Abu Ammar.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army has advanced in the battles against IS in the Tulol al-Safa hills, where the IS has been surrounded by the Syrian army, which launched an offensive following the IS July attack on Sweida to end the group's presence in the desert region.