Parishioners and friar kidnapped

A Franciscan priest and up to 20 parishioners have been seized by terrorists linked to the Islamist al-Nusra Front at a village in north-western Syria, writes Ellen Teague. Fr Hanna Jallouf, parish priest in Knayeh, and the others were taken on Sunday. In the most recent Syrian atrocity, at least 41 children aged between six and nine were killed in double bombings outside a primary school in Homs on 1 October. The Akrameh district is mainly Alawite, the Shia-linked faith of President Bashar al-Assad.