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The Islamic State group (ISIS) on Monday claimed responsibility for the gunning down of an Armenian Catholic Priest and his father in the northeast Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor.

According to reports by Syrian sources, ISIS claimed Monday afternoon via its Telegram channels to have killed “two Christian priests” in al-Zir village, in the al-Busayrah sub-district of Deir ez-Zor.

Earlier, Syrian state TV SANA reported the “martyrdom” of Priest Hovsep Petoyan, head of the Armenian Catholic Church in Qamishli, and his father. The two were killed by unidentified gunmen, SANA said, as they travelled southbound from Hasaka province to Deir ez-Zor.

The priest and his father had been on their way to “supervise the restoration” of a church when they were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), UK-based war monitor.