14 DAY TRIAL // A rebel formation in Syria has kidnapped two Greek Orthodox bishops on Monday, April 22. Reports are saying that the armed men have referred to themselves as the “Chechen Group,” suggesting that they are connected to the Boston bombers.
Ya Libnan quotes a news report from neighboring country Lebanon, writing that the kidnapping has been dubbed “a heinous act of terrorism” by the Forces Party.
Boulos al-Yazigi and Yuhanna Ibrahim are bishops in the city of Aleppo, and they have been taken at gun point while driving from a location near the border with Turkey to Aleppo.
Their driver has been fatally shot and a third man might have been abducted with the clerics. Authorities have not disclosed the identity of the other passenger in their vehicle, but he is also a priest.
Leader Samir Geagea of the Leabanese Forces Party, the largest Christian party in the country, has asked for the release of the religious leaders.
Geagea denounced “in the strongest terms the abduction of the bishops and called for their immediate release and without any delay.”
Officials are yet to confirm a connection between the Syrian rebel group and Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.