Damascus, Jan 17 (IANS): The Islamic State terror group kidnapped about 400 people from a town that its militants stormed in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, media reported on Sunday.

The IS militants stormed the town of al-Bughailiyeh on Saturday, killing over 280 people, mostly women and children, and tossing their bodies in the Euphrates River in the countryside of Deir al-Zour, near Iraq, Xinhua reported.

The IS attack on the neighbourhood was carried out with several suicide bombers blowing themselves up at positions manned by government forces, the report said.

Syria's state news agency SANA also reported the mass killing, saying scores of people were massacred by IS in al-Bughailiyeh.

Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog group, said the IS sneaked into al-Bughailiyeh on Saturday, killing tens of government forces.

The IS attack on the neighbourhood comes amid renewed battles between the IS and the Syrian military forces in several areas in Deir al-Zour, including the vicinity of the main airbase near the Iraqi border.