Syrian rebel charged with 20 murders between 2013 and 2014
Austrian prosecutors say they have charged a Syrian rebel with 20 murders that took place in his home country. The 27-year-old man was arrested in western Austria in June while he was staying in a refugee centre. Austrian media said he told people at the shelter that he had shot dead wounded government soldiers when he was fighting with an Islamist rebel group called the Farouq Brigade. A Syrian fellow reported him to officials, AFP news agency recorded. The killings are thought to have taken place in 2013 or 2014, in or around Homs, Syria’s third-largest city. Prosecutors said he initially admitted the killings but then retracted his confession, AFP said.